Artemis' Lost Memories
by 1-Artemis-Hunter-1
Summary: Monsters get loose from Taurus and Zeus turns to his trusted daughter to return them to the pits where they came from, but during a fight with the Nemean Lion, Artemis gets hurt. When she wakes up, she has no idea who she is. Story of how she goes through the frustration and pain of reliving her life through the millenniums. Sibling centered, reuniting a broken family.
1. Chapter 1

"Artemis." The goddess jumped at the sudden boom of her father's voice. She put her arrows down and looked up at the shimmering mass of light in front of her; the image of her father's worried expression filled the circle of bent energy. That was never good for her schedule. "Yes father? What has happened?" She asked, trying to get to the point of his request.

"Can a father not call his daughter without there being something wrong?" Artemis raised an auburn eyebrow at him. Zeus signed. "Kronos had one of his fits today."

Artemis hung her head and sighed; ever since her grandfather was defeated all those millennium ago, long before she was born, he would have outburst once every hundred or so years. The problem was, Hades could not predict when Kronos was going to have one of his 'episodes', and it always caught him by surprise even if he would not admit it.

While Hades went to counter act Kronos' magic, monsters escaped. Over the dozens of times it had happened so far, it was only a pack of hell hounds that escaped; nothing Artemis and her hunters could not handle.

After Kronos' first episode that she assisted, Zeus had called a council meeting to discuss the matter. Athena had predicted he would not fail to try again but when he would, she could not calculate, as Kronos was as unpredictable as their father; her words, not Artemis'. The council voted Artemis to take care of the monsters each time it happened with the assistance of the demigods if needed. Of course her father agreed, Zeus always agreed with Athena's plans.

Was Artemis jealous of Athena? No, not particularly because while Zeus always looks to Athena for what to do, he turns to her when he wants that plan executed and she did so flawlessly every time. Athena and Artemis were like sisters, which they were, and Artemis liked to think Athena was her twin instead of Apollo sometimes.

"We will start out now father." Artemis informed him. "I will have Anndra send a message to the demigods and have them send their group out as soon as possible."

Zeus smiled at Artemis though the misty screen. She never did anything that did not make him proud to call her his daughter. He nodded. "Good luck Artemis."

The goddess of the hunt smirked up at the king of the Gods. "Who needs luck?" With that said, she stood and walked through the image, disconnecting the call. She was left with the booming sound of her father's laughter; the echo could still be heard off in the distance as she walked out of her tent and into the hunter's camp site.

As she approached the hunters were all sitting around the unlit fire pit, Artemis noticed one of them looking up at the sky with a small smile on her face. Anndra turned to her goddess. "Were you talking to dad again?"

Artemis chuckled to herself, deciding to answer her half-sister at the same time as announcing their new mission. "Girls." The Goddess shushed the chattering young ladies who all stopped immediately when their patron started talking. "It's that time of the century again, Kronos had another fit."

A round of groans were given coaxing a sympathetic smile from the goddess. "I know, but we all must play our part. Look on the bright side, the faster we finish, the faster we can go remind those demigods who are the masters at Capture the Flag." The hunters cheered and started whispering excitedly to one another. "Pack up camp, the sooner we leave the better. Anndra. I need you for a moment." Artemis led her lieutenant down to the edge of the creek who's shore they had set up camp on; they always settled down near some source of water.

"Anndra, I need you to message your friend and tell her to get the demigod group together to set out."

"Sure thing m'Lady."

Artemis nodded and turned to the water. "Iris, I require your assistance." Mist grew from the water's surface and quickly solidified into the image of a girl with light blond hair and eyes that never stayed one color long, it was like looking into a mesmerizing stethoscope; overall, she looked about fifteen. Artemis knew Iris could look anyway she wanted to, just as she could, but she enjoyed appearing as a teenager. The thought reminded the younger immortal that Iris told her once how she had gotten the idea from her.

"Artemis! How good to see you!" Iris greeted enthusiastically. "And you as well daughter of Zeus! What can I do for you?"

"Iris," Anndra bowed her head in respect before continuing. "If you could please send a message to Stella Jacobs in Washington D.C.?"

"Of course I can! But you should know, she's not Stella Jacobs anymore." With a giggle and no explanation, Iris' image disappeared. In her place, the image of the red haired daughter of Athena emerged.

Well, her bathroom anyway. Iris had placed their image in the middle of Stella's bedroom facing her bathroom. The light blue door was open, revealing the daughter of Athena brushing her teeth while starring in the mirror.

"Stel!" Anndra exclaimed, her outburst successfully obtaining her friend's attention.

Stella turned and smiled at the image of her best friend. ''Anndra!" She said, or meant to. It came out more as "Awdre!". The ridiculous sound brought about a laugh out of half mortal, even Artemis chuckled. Stella's eyebrows frowned in confusion for a moment before, a second later, she laughed too and turned to the sink to spit.

After placing her toothbrush in it's holder, she ran over to the hovering reflection. "Hey Ann! What's up?"

"Hey Stellie. Well, you're not going to like it."

Stella frowned, not only at Anndra's last sentence but also at the nickname. "Alright. What is it?"

"Kronos." That one word, that one name, and Stella immediately knew.

"I'll get Cy, we'll get to camp in an hour, get the monsters, and meet you in Oklahoma City ASAP." Why Oklahoma City? Artemis had no idea. Cyrus suggested it, and seeing no reason not to meet there, she agreed.

"Did I hear my name?" Cyrus' head popped in from the other room. "Oh hey Lightning Girl! Lady Artemis." Artemis nodded her head at the son of Hephaestus.

"Hey Ash Face. Get ready for another quest..." Anndra started explaining the situation to Cyrus, Artemis was too busy answering another call to listen.

"Hey Arty." Athena greeted and Artemis couldn't help but smile. Normally she would smite anyone that called her Arty; all except Athena. "I have an update for you on the monsters Kronos let out."

"Hey 'Thena." She returned. "Hit me."

Athena's previously semi-happy face turned gloom. "These aren't just hellhounds this time Artemis, Hades was distracted long enough for the Nemean Lion, the Manticore, and several Drakon to get out...and hellhounds."

Artemis froze. This was not in any sense of the word: good. "Oh Athena" she breathed. "...this is not good."

Athena shook her head. "No, but we know you can do it Artemis. We believe in you."

Artemis looked up and cracked a smile. "Thank you. Do you know where they are?"

Through the shaky image of the their transaction, Athena snapped her fingers and in front of her, a piece of paper appeared. "I've fashioned a map with small pieces of their essences I had in my lab." Artemis didn't want to know why, or how, her half sister had acquired bits of these monsters to put in her map. She's learned after a few thousand years not to question Athena's ways of getting information. "Whenever you look at it, it shows you where exactly in the United States they are."

Athena snapped her fingers again and Artemis felt her hand grip something. She looked down and opened the map, giving it a once over. "Thanks again 'Thena."

Athena waved it off nonchalantly. "Not a problem. Eventually, you'll see it also shows where the demigod group is, as well as your own group." Artemis wondered again how the wisdom goddess had gotten some of her own essence, but kept quiet about it.

"Alright, that should help. Later Athena."

"Hey Ann, where did Artemis go?" Artemis heard Stella ask faintly from behind her.

"I'm right here Stella." The goddess answered.

"Stella?" Athena asked. "Move me so I can see her Arty!" Artemis did as she was asked; Athena loved Stella, anyone with eyes could tell that and as if Athena's constant talking about her was any clue. Which she did, a lot.

Artemis watched with a small smile as the mother-daughter duo caught up; this was the only thing the younger goddess was jealous of that her sister could do, but she could not.

Have children.

She's always watched the other gods and goddess talk about what their children had done to make them proud, see their faces when they found out they could talk to them after Zeus lifted the ban. It made the hole in her heart ache and the one thing that could fill that hole, was the one thing she couldn't have.

Why did you need a man to have a child anyway? The concept totally escaped Artemis. She hated men but she wanted a child of her own, and for that she would need a man; she couldn't do what Athena does.

Don't get her wrong, she loved her hunters. They were like sisters to her, a family away from her dysfunctional one, but even the seven year old she had just welcomed into the hunt could only mask the pain.

Artemis craved the satisfaction of seeing her own flesh and blood running around, making her proud, but she would never break her oath for a...man. The goddess of the Hunt was not going to give this dream up easily, however, and she planned on making it come true without breaking her oath.

Athena's voice brought Artemis out of her thoughts. "Good bye Artemis, and good luck." Artemis didn't have to force a smile, she was enthusiastic she got to pull the same line off in ten minutes. A new record.

Artemis smirked at the goddess of wisdom and said with obvious pleasure, "Who needs luck?" before ending the fragmented light message. Anndra, Cyrus and Stella laughed. Athena's laugh, though not as noticeable as Zeus', could be heard as thunder in the distance.

Getting back to business, Artemis turned to the first call and looked at the map. "The map Athena gave me shows the Nemean Lion is in Arizona, not far from here. The Hunters and I will take that one." The demigods on the other end nodded in agreement but said nothing, allowing the goddess to continue. "The Manticore is in Illinois. You can manage that I'm sure.

"For the Drakon and hellhounds, they seem to have stuck together. There are three groups of about twenty. Ten Drakon and hellhounds each. One is in Utah, one is in Florida, and the last is in Texas." Artemis paused. "I think we should meet in Texas instead of Oklahoma and finish that group off together."

"Agreed." Stella interjected quickly.

"I'll see if Athena can make you a map as well. If not, call us for cities and anything else." Artemis swiped her hand across the section of bent light to end the conversation.

As they were walking back to camp, Anndra started talking. "Did you hear?"

"I hear many things Anndra." Artemis laughed at her hunter's expression. "Hear what?"

Anndra recovered quickly and her smile returned. "Cyrus proposed to Stella! They're getting married, isn't that great?"

"It is Anndra. Hm, I suppose that's what Iris meant." Artemis was reminded once again how marriage led to children however sometimes the other way around. "It took him long enough, how old are they now? Twenty five?"

"I think so. Stel asked me to be her maid of honor, can I go?" "Of course you can Anndra." Artemis said as they entered camp, or now what was camp. Phoebe walked up to her goddess, handing her and Anndra their things. "Thank you Phoebe. Let's go girls! Next stop, Salt Lake City Utah."

~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~

Having only been in central Idaho, it didn't take Artemis and her hunters long to get to their first target; the first band of Drakon and hellhounds.

The goddess took out her map, she found that when they got into a city the monsters were in, it zoomed in to lead their group to the exact spot they were. Artemis made a note to thank Athena again because even though her hunters could have found the monsters easily, this kept them fresh and ready to fight.

Artemis placed the map back into her bag. "Ambush." Was the only thing she said. The hunters swiftly and quietly mounted themselves in the trees overhead, the few trees there were since the monster band had congregated themselves in a park. It was about eleven at night, being the moon's patron helped Artemis know what time it was by the placement of the moon, so the park was deserted except the monsters and them.

After making sure all her hunters had their bows at the ready, Artemis took her place on a low branch with her own bow loaded.

The goddess' eyes focused in, darting around, not staying in one place for more than a few seconds; analyzing her targets and looking for weaknesses. She blinked and she saw nothing but their heat signatures, the places where more heat showed she knew where kinks in their armor.

That's what she motioned the hunters to aim for. All she had to do was point to places on her own body corresponding with the monster's weak spots; every hunter had their eyes glued to the goddess as she gave them their commands.

Artemis focused back on the drakon and hellhounds. "Three...two...one..." she whispered so low any normal mortal wouldn't have heard it. Monsters could and Artemis was thankful didn't seem to over the crackle of their fire. "Now."

With that simple word, a three letter word that spelled out the unsuspecting monsters' doom, thirty five arrows emerged from the dark and into the faint glow of the fire. Artemis didn't have thirty five hunters, there were really only fifteen, but they were excellent with their bows and this was proven not only by each of them shooting at least two arrows at once, but also the screams and wails of the drakon and hellhounds as each and every arrow hit it's mark.

Seconds after the first scream, Artemis was on the ground with her knives out and walking calmly into the monster's camp. Most of the twenty had turned to dust upon being hit by the celestial bronze arrows, but there were a few stragglers who quickly joined their friends with but a few skilled movements of the goddess' knives.

"Good job girls." She praised her hunters. "Moving on." That's how these missions went. Short and to the point. Just how Artemis liked it.

"Where to now?" Her seven year old hunter, Shannon, asked.

"Phoenix, Arizona." Artemis answered after looking at the map. "Let's get-"

"Well, you work fast." The voice cut the goddess off. Artemis turned to the shimmering area that was still forming a few feet from her.

"Thank you Cyrus," she said. "I take pride in that." The son of the forge god nodded. "Well we're ready, we just need a city." The Manticore, Artemis remembered. She took out the map once more and told him which city it was in. "Alright, thanks Artemis." Cyrus ran his hand across his field of vision and the godly call ended.

"Come on girls."

~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~

Artemis wasn't very partial to the heat, and Arizona, was hot. Not to mention Phoenix was over one hundred the day the group arrived.

"So...Where is it?" Anndra asked, impatiently.

"Well," Artemis said while frowning at the map, "It says its ten feet in front of us."

Anndra wrinkled her nose in disgust. "Please don't tell me to our right."

Artemis nodded grimly. "To the right."

The hunters all silently gagged to each other as they walked into the building. "Would someone tell me how and why the Nemean Lion got in a male modeling building?!" Artemis' lieutenant groaned. Artemis shook her head, not knowing herself.

"Spread out girls, look for anything suspicious and don't let the mist fool you." Before she could take another step forward, she felt a weight on her left leg. Looking down, she saw Shannon clinging to her leg. "This place scares me." The young hunter whimpered.

Artemis picked her up easily, "You can come with me then hun." Before anyone noticed, the goddess changed her form, switching from her twelve year old body to her twenty five year old form; an age she almost never changed into. Then again, any form is a form she never changed into.

Artemis took a deep breath before walking in, pausing a moment to watch her hunters and watched in amusement as Phoebe kneed one of the models in the...special area for flirting with her. Shannon giggled from in the goddess' arms.

Feeling she could now leave her hunters without worrying, Artemis started searching herself. The building had three floors reserved to the company out of a twenty story building. So far, only the first and second floors were being searched. Seeing this, Artemis took the elevator to the third floor to begin her end of their monster scavenger hunt.

After almost ten minutes of searching for she didn't even know what, Artemis was ready to give up when Shannon suddenly squealed "Doggie!" The goddess' head snapped to where she pointing.

They had walked into a room that was currently being used for a photo shoot. Artemis gagged at the practically naked model that was suppose to make girls faint; men, honestly. Her attention then shifted on the little pint-sized dog the man standing behind the photographer was holding. It wasn't very big, a Chiwawa, but when Artemis focused, she saw it for what it really was.

Artemis remembered the story a past huntress had told her about fighting the Nemean Lion while on the quest for her father. It's weakness was it's mouth, that was the only way to kill it.

Now she just needed a way to get it to keep it's mouth open...and a way to get the mortals to leave, so she did the only thing she could think of. "FIRE!" There was a pause where everyone in the room stopped at looked at her. "Well what are you just standing there for? Didn't you hear me? FIRE!"

The goddess was probably a strange sight, donning her light silver hunting clothes, a bow and arrow bundle draped across her shoulder. Not to mention despite her emergency call of a fire in the building, stood calmly with a seven year old resting on her hip.

Nevertheless, the man that was holding the Lion screamed like a little girl, in fact it sounded incredibility like Shannon so much so Artemis looked down to check she wasn't the one screaming. She wasn't. The man dropped the dog and ran past her, still screaming his head off. Everyone else followed on his heels though less enthusiastically.

Artemis felt Shannon's grip on her neck tighten as the 'cute little doggie' transformed into it's true form. The goddess set her down, releasing the death-grip the little girl had on her neck, and drew her knives. "Shay, I need you to get your bow ready, and when I say shoot, I want you to shoot it's mouth. It's mouth you hear me?"

The five year old nodded numbly, still quite frightened, but obeyed and took out her bow. After she notched her arrow, Artemis turned to the monster.

Her huntress was right when she said it was huge and intimidating. It easily stood six foot from it's shoulder to the ground, it's golden fur reflected the intense light the photographers was using, and those claws...

Artemis narrowed her eyes, this over-sized pup was not going to scare her. Her grip on her knives tightened and she sprinted forward.

The lion proved faster than Artemis thought, swiping at her with one of it's giant paws as she grew nearer. She may have underestimated the Nemean, but Artemis expected it to swipe at her. She dodged in just enough time to not get splattered all over the wall.

An idea flashed through the goddess' head as she watched the monster's follow through. Deliberately, she backpedaled so she was standing next to Shannon again who still had her arrow rightfully pointed at the Lion's head.

When it's paw was back in place, Artemis charged the monster again. This time, she didn't get out of the way, and allowed it to hit her. She heard Shannon scream in horror but the goddess of the Moon, however, didn't let go of the creature's paw and allow herself to be slammed into the wall like Shannon thought she had. Artemis clung to it's paw for her life as the lion went threw the swing.

Just like the last time, the lion brought it's paw behind it's head on the back swing and that is when Artemis let go, landing solidly on the beast's back. She shook her head, clearing it from the sudden rush.

Now that I'm up here, how do I keep it's mouth open... Artemis thought to herself. "Get ready Shay!" She yelled down to the little girl.

Turns out Artemis didn't need a strategy to keep the Lion's mouth open, because at that moment, it opened it's mouth and let out a mighty roar. Artemis barely had enough time to shout "NOW!" Before she was whipped off the monster's neck.

As she flew threw the air, she watched Shannon's arrow wedge itself in the Nemean's mouth, and it disintegrate leaving only a pelt. That was the last thing Artemis saw before her head made contact with the cement wall, and she blacked out.

Shannon watched in horror as her goddess lay sprawled out on the floor, unconscious. She looked up at the huge crack in the wall apprehensively before sprinting out of the room and flew down the stairs, not even bothering with the elevator.

Tears obstructed her vision, and as the five year old turned the corner, she ran straight into another person. "Shannon? Aren't you suppose to be with Lady Artemis?"

Looking up from her place on the floor, Shannon recognized the person. It was Phoebe. "Oh Phoebe!" She sprang up and sobbed into her waist which is the farthest she could reach, being so much shorter compared to the older girl.

"Wha-What's wrong Shay?" Phoebe asked, awkwardly wrapping her arms around her younger hunter sister, she was never good with comforting people. That was Artemis' job.

"Its Artemis! She's hurt!" Immediately at attention, Phoebe scooped Shannon up and sprinted down the hall, yelled to her fellow hunteresses before running up the stairs to the third floor.

When she skited into the battle scene, she couldn't help but gasp at the painful position her patron was in. Phoebe set Shannon down just as her sisters arrived. They too looked horrified at the sight.

"We need to get to camp." Anndra said grimly.

"What about the demigods?" One of the hunters, Hannah, asked. "They expect us to meet them in Texas, plus they need the Lady's map to locate the remaining monsters."

The daughter of Zeus sighed. "We'll just have to meet them in Texas then."

"What about Artemis?" Shannon asked, tears still flowing out of her eyes.

Anndra smiled warmly at the little girl, picking her up and hugging her. "We'll take care of her, don't worry Shay."

The next time Stella called, the hunters were were already halfway thru New Mexico. Normally they could have already been in Texas, but they traveled slowly to ensure their goddess' health.

"Hey Ann!" Stella greeted cheerfully. "We killed the Manticore, and man it was awesome, you should have seen it. Talk about pay back!" When her friend didn't answer, the red haired girl frowned already expecting the worse. "What's wrong Anndra? Did you lose someone?"

The lieutenant looked back at her goddess' tent with a worried expression. "Oh no...not Artemis. That can't happen. She's a goddess."

"I know Stel, I'm worried. It's been two days and she still hasn't woken up yet."

Stella frowned at the nickname. "We'll be there as soon as we can."

"After you kill the rest of the monsters." Anndra said firmly. When Stella started to argue, she sent her a glare, which immediately quieted her. Anndra grabbed Artemis' map and opened it. "The last band is in Miami. Meet us in Austin, that's where the third group is."

The daughter of Athena sighed, knowing arguing farther with her friend wouldn't do anything. "We're on it. See you soon Ann."

"You too Stel."

~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~

_"Is she awake?"_

_"When is she going to wake up?"_

_"Is she dead?"_

_"She's a goddess, of course she's not dead!"_

The voices floated in and out of the goddess' subconscious and she groaned, not wanting to hear them or wake up yet.

At the sound of their patron waking up, the hunters all swarmed around the infirmary bed. "My Lady," Anndra said, cautiously. "Are you feeling ok?"

Artemis looked over at the raven haired girl, her eyebrows frowned in confusion. "Who are you?"


	2. Chapter 2

_"Who are you?"_

Anndra felt like her world has been turned upside down. This couldn't be happening. "Lady Artemis! It's me, Anndra, your lieutenant, you're half sister!" Anndra turned to the Hunters, taking in their wide-eyed, worried faces. "We're your hunteresses. You _have_ to remember us."

The goddess on the hospital bed took a look at every one of the girls. They were dressed in light, silver clothes, a bow string came around their shoulders with the curved wood fitting gently against their backs. The staffs were engraved with dozens of elegant images. Arrows were strapped over their shoulders and knives at their waist. They were all staring at the goddess, eyes wide while many of them threatening to cry. The girls in front of her looked both extremely dangerous and vulnerable at the same time. Slowly, she shook her head. "I'm sorry, I don't...

Suddenly the door burst open, a frantic teenager ran into the room, his bright blue eyes held a wild expression. He was extremely tan with short sandy blonde hair, and looked much like the confused girl on the bed. Apollo looked around the room until he came to said girl. "Artemis! Artemis are you alright?

"Who are you?" Artemis repeated, she felt like she was going to use that phrase a lot.

The three words that his immortal sibling uttered in confusion were more than enough to hit the god in his theoretic heart. Apollo fell to his knees next to his older sister's bed, clutching the sterile white sheets in his hands. "It's me, Apollo, your twin brother, your little brother!" By the time he had gotten the last bit of the exclamation, tears had welled up in his eyes. It was the one of the very few times he had willingly admitted she was older than him.

The demigods and huntresses watched in shock as his form shimmered into a sobbing, beaten little boy, but just as quickly shifted back as anger erupted in his eyes. "What happened to her?" He snapped the last part at the others in the room.

"We were looking for the Nemean Lion," Phoebe spoke up, "The Lady found it first and well, Shannon can tell you." Apollo turned to the little girl holding on the the older girl's leg, staring up at him with wide eyes.

"Wa-Wady Artemis distrwacted the big puppy and I shot it in da mouth." Shannon shifted so she was fully behind Phoebe. "After dat she hit the wall and wen-wented to sleep."

Artemis watched the girl explain what happened to her from her hospital bed. She felt bad for making her cry when she couldn't recall who she was; she was very cute and the way she spoke just made her want to hold her and tell her everything was going to be alright. She felt the same way towards the boy, despite looking much older than she felt, as few tears silently rolled down his cheeks.

Her little brother? She highly doubted it but he seemed so genuinely devastated it was hard not to believe him.

Apollo nodded grimly. "Can you do anything for her?" When a man entered the room, Artemis did a double take. The top half of his body was a weathered man, but where his legs suppose to be, four white stallion legs were instead.

"Whoa, what are you?" She blurted. Everyone in the room turned to her, some surprised at her question while others including her newly acquired brother, concerned. Artemis shrunk into her bed in embarrassment.

Apollo smiled at his older sister before turning to answer the old Centaur's question. "There's honestly nothing I can do, she has amnesia, and there is no imitate cure to it. All I can do is treat the headaches that might come with it or anything else."

All the Hunters hung their heads. Apollo, upon seeing this, tried to cheer them up. "It's not necessarily permanent, and I don't know how serious her condition is, she'll get her memories back faster if you do things she normally does. Take her though her normal routine.

"Familiar faces help to, keep reminding her who you are. I'll go through some tests to see how bad her condition is, being thrown into a wall by the Nemean Lion probably doesn't help her head much." He smiled down at his sister, some of his normal spunk showing through his concern. "Ya really did it this time Arty."

Artemis frowned, she immediately disliked the nickname. How did her brother know so much about how to treat her apparent injury? And he didn't look very old, was it safe for him to run 'tests' on her? "Alright, everyone out!"

When everyone had left, Apollo set to work; checking his sister's balance, reflexes, vision and hearing, as well as testing how much she could remember about her past, how strong she was, and how long he could get her to concentrate.

Apollo took a few minutes to tally his results while everyone else filed back in. When all the huntresses were snugly huddled into their goddess' room, he was ready and began relaying his diagnosis. "Well, I would say she has a grade three, high medium concussion," Faces and hopes fell, "But I believe her amnesia won't be permanent. She needs rest, no physical or mental exertion for about a week, then you need to surround her with familiar objects and people like I said earlier. When she's awake, visit her and make sure you tell her the myths from the past to reinstate her into our world." Apollo took a deep breath. "I'm off to Olympus to tell father. Wish me luck."

Chiron patted him on the back, "May the fates be with you boy, when you tell Athena." Apollo visibly paled.

_**On Olympus:**_

"Father!" Apollo's desperate call silenced the chatter floating around in the throne room.

"Apollo?" Zeus frowned at his son's worried and frantic expression. "What happened?"

"You might want to sit down for this."

"I am sitting down Apollo."

"...Oh yeah. Well I need to sit down then." The sun god flopped down in his throne and rubbed his temples. The Olympians in the room stayed eerily silent, they all knew Apollo loved joking and tricks, but each and every one of them immediately picked up on the major difference in his emotions and personality since he popped in.

"Apollo...?" Hera spoke after a few minutes, breaking the tense silence that had fallen over the immortals.

He looked up, seemingly surprised they were all there. "Oh, right. You know how we sent Artemis out to take care of the monsters?" Athena stiffened and leaned forward. "She was fighting the Nemean Lion and...she..." Apollo felt exhausted, placing his head in his hands.

"Apollo!" Athena cried when he trailed off, the suspense was killing her, what happened to her younger half-sister? Was it her fault? "She, what!"

"She was thrown against a wall. She has no idea who she is, who I am, or who her hunteresses are."

None of the gods said anything; no one could believe what the sun god had just said. Artemis never got hurt. Demigods yes, even Hunters at times yes, but never Artemis, she was the best; the assassin of Olympus as Apollo calls her.

Athena was the first to react, crying out, her head fell to her hands as her body shook with sobs. Hestia ran over and tried to calm her niece but not to much anvil. "I have to go see her." Athena said after she had calmed down a bit.

"She's resting." Apollo mumbled through his fingers, not bothering to meet her eyes.

Athena stood up, stubborn as ever. "I'm going anyway." "Fine," Apollo sighed, knowing an argument with her would be counter productive and not in the mood to make any jokes. "Just don't wake her up."

When Athena arrived at Camp Half-Blood, she was in the pavilion where the demigods ate. Athena swore in Greek under her breath, she had been too distracted she overshot her destination of the infirmary.

"Mother?" Athena turned to the voice, she hadn't noticed all the demigods, satyrs, nymphs. It must have been their meal time.

"Lady Athena," Chiron bowed to her. "To what do we owe the pleasure?"

"I came to see Artemis." She stated.

"She is currently asleep M'lady, but you are welcome to pass time with us." Athena nodded at the old horse and made her way over to her table.

"Good afternoon children." Athena tried her best at a smile.

"Hello mother." They chorused. She smiled at their discipline. Athena picked up her youngest daughter Aly who was eight, and sat down with her on her lap.

Athena didn't pay attention to mortal meal times, but from what she saw it was dinner. Halfway or so through, a tired figure stumbled into the pavilion. Athena seemed to be the only one to notice her.

The goddess of wisdom got up, not bothering to set her daughter down, and walked over to her best friend. "Arty," Artemis looked up at her and smiled, the same nickname her brother had called her by that irritated the goddess so badly was strangely adoring coming from the older woman. "Do you know who I am?" She asked, resting a hand gently on her shoulder.

Artemis looked at the woman in front of her. She had long black hair, intelligent gray eyes, and a young girl that looked like a mini version of her in her arms except with blond hair. Something about her seemed familiar, the woman not the girl, a loving feel; like a mother. Though she didn't seem like a mother to anyone but the girl she was holding.

"You're...my sister?" Athena's smile was bright and happy at the reticulation.

"Yes! I'm Athena, your half sister." Artemis nodded, smiling herself, proud she could conjure up the scrap of information.

"Who is this?"

"Oh, Artemis, meet my youngest daughter Aly. Say hi Aly."

"Hi Aly!" The little girl giggled at her own joke. Athena and Artemis joined her, though inside Artemis something stirred and forced her to ask her next question.

"Do I have a daughter?"

"Artemis, I'm sorry, you don't." Athena smiled sadly at her.

"Why not?" She asked curiously.

"Well because you swore to be an eternal virgin, just like our aunt Hestia and myself."

Artemis frowned. "But if you have a daughter, why can't I?"

"Well, being the goddess of wisdom, and considering my past and how I was brought into the world myself, I can do something special that allows me to have children without breaking the oath."

Artemis took in what her sister had told her before she voiced her next thought. "Then I should be able to do something special as well?"

Athena shrugged. "Possibly..." She studied Artemis, never seeing such determination in her eyes before. "We'll work on it once we get some Ambrosia and Nectar into you. How about it?"

Artemis smiled and followed her to the main table where Dionysus loaded a plate up for her, not even commenting, which surprised Athena but she didn't say anything either.

"Aly, darling, why don't you get aunty Artemis a clean goblet." She whispered to her daughter and set her off. Athena led Artemis to her table, the Hunters gladly made room for their patron. Aly came right after with a fresh goblet and Athena filled it with nectar with a snap of her fingers. "Aly, would you like to sit with mommy and aunt Artemis or go back with your siblings?" Athena asked the little girl clinging to her leg.

"I wanna sit with you mumma!" Athena smiled and picked her up, setting her on her lap. Aly's plate appeared in front of her and the eight year old Brit began munching on her fish sticks once more.

Immediately after the young girl sat down, Artemis felt a specially emotional set of eyes fall on her. When she looked over, the small girl that had been there when she got thrown at the wall was glaring at her sister's daughter.

Artemis watched as she stabbed her food a little more violently than necessary. "Make sure you eat your vegetables." The goddess reminded the girl who hadn't touched the green tree like food despite her rampage with the other food groups on her plate. Her voice seemed to startle the young huntress who looked up with wide eyes.

When she realized what Artemis told her, she smiled shyly, gently poking her fork into the veggie and tilting her head down. However, the goddess could feel how much happier the simple statement of reconigation made her.

"So Artemis, I was thinking about this child idea you had." Athena announced a week later causing her half sister looked up from the bow she was fiddling with. The two of them were at the beach by the edge of the woods sitting on a cluster of flat rocks. Artemis was re-teaching herself to use her archery equipment and how to shoot; although it was an innate ability the goddess had and was quickly getting back into the swing of things, it was still a process.

She had been picking up on lots of her old ways the longer Athena and the huntresses spent with her; even her surprised reaction to seeing Chiron was far behind her as she reacquainted herself amongst the 'myths' of the past. "I might be onto something."

The Moon's patron stopped her work on the bow, draping it across her lap, and leaned forward. "Let me hear it."

"Ok, so your sacred animal, the stag; the connection you share is so pure, the animal can hold the life of a child for you. A doe would be able to carry a female infant, but the catch is the animal would die. After she's born, the child would have to stay in the forest long enough for both souls to settle with the loss of one to give life to another and maintain the balance.

"The animal's spirit will protect her as she grows in the mortal world but when the time comes, the exchange will happen in reverse; your daughter will die and revert back into the young doe that sacrificed its life to give hers." The wisdom goddess paused in her long winded explination. "You can't make her a huntress to save her Artemis, you have to let her die when the time comes."

Artemis took a deep breath, process all the information her sister had rambled off. "That's great Athena, a little girl is exactly what I was hoping for...I know it will be painful to let her go but you know, something sparked inside me when I saw your littlest one; a want. I don't know how long it's been there, but I know it's strong.

"It is easy for me to say I will be ok when the time comes like you said, but I have to experiance pain in order to love. Thank you, so much for helping me, but I think it'll be better to try when I regain my memories before we try anything."

The goddess of wisdom nodded, placing a comforting hand on her sister's shoulder. "I was thinking the same thing." She stood. "Well I really must be getting back to Olympus, Arty."

"When do I get to visit Olympus 'Thena?" Artemis whined, the weight of their conversation melting away just a little.

Athena winked. "When Apollo comes and teaches you how to use your powers." With that she disappeared, leaving only the smell of old books as any indicator she was there.


	3. Chapter 3

Dinner passed once again and Anndra led Artemis back to the Infirmary on Chiron's request. "Good night, m'Lady." The hunteress bowed stiffly before leaving and silence filled the room as Artemis drifted to a state of relaxation. She learned quickly that gods don't actually sleep; the time she spent recharging her energy was a new old feeling but was something she quickly became use to and enjoyed being able to reflect on her experiences of the day. Not to mention all of the new things she learned about her past, all of it a bit overwhelming.

As days past, the goddess of the Moon found that while some things seemed alien to her, most of what the demigods (Athena told her all about the children running around the camp, how they were half god and half mortal, creations of her lust driven relatives) were telling and showing her sparked small scraps of memories from her past.

The memories played behind her eyelids like movies, Artemis' favorite one as of far was the island where she was born, helping her mother through the birth of her younger twin brother. She remembered holding him while her mother, a mortal, held her

Artemis also remembered the hatred Hera had for her for bearing her father's children, the curse her parents had to get around in order for the two of them to be born.

"Arty," The goddess of wisdom's voice drifted into Artemis' skull and bounced around, vibrating her eardrums, forcing her to look up at her half-sister. "Would you like to take a walk with me through the forest?

With a smile, Artemis nodded and followed. The two goddesses walked side by side and chatted about nonsense things that she would probably forget in ten minutes. It wasnt until a certain topic came up did Artemis really pay attention.

"Like I was saying," Athena leaned back on a mountain of rocks. "I really think this is possible Arty, but there's still the issue of the male side of the gene pool. I mean we could always cut off one's-"

Thunder rang off in the distance, Athena looked up at the sky in surprise at first, then in amusement. She waved her hand over her shoulder, then tapped the spot next to her. "Come sit down Artemis. Did you know the demigods named this Zeus' Fist?"

Artemis raised her eyebrow in amusement. "Really, it looked like something I'd seen one of my doe produce after a meal." The two shared a laugh as she sat down, and when she did, a memory flashed through her eyes.

A small girl with auburn curls came bouncing ran up the steps of the great white marble building that towered high over her small stature. Inside there were ten older beings much larger than herself arguing; a norm the small girl has come to accept.

_"Father! Father!" She cried happily, ignoring the irritated looks and groans she was receiving from her relatives as she ran by their thrones. Though some of them did look happy to see her, like her aunt who was standing out of the way of the arguing by the fireside like she prefers, her step-sister's wise grey eyes shined with love, and her father whose own sparked with the same love with amusement laced in._

_His laughter boomed through the room as he picked her up and placed her on his lap, keeping his hand there to keep the squirming girl from falling the ten foot drop to the floor. "Yes my daughter?" _

_"I know what I want now." She beamed up at her father with pure, childish amusement._

_"Now? Artemis, we're kind of in the middle of something."_

_Artemis pouted, crossing her arms over her chest and frowning her eyebrows in annoyance. "You promised."_

_Zeus sighed in defeat, he was a sucker for her pouting face. He nodded, giving into the small girl's will like he had any other time she wanted something. "Alright Artemis, what is your request?" _

_"I want to be a huntress! With my own bow and arrows, hunting dogs, and I want to be like 'Thena and aunt Hestia! No yucky boys." As the small girl on his lap listed what she had thought of, the king of the Gods was starting to regret promising his newest daughter whatever she wanted as a reward for helping her mother._

_"Is that it sweetie?" He asked tentatively, almost afraid she would say more._

_"Some company would be nice." She added with a slight tilt to her head, smiling a bit wistfully she added. "I love the moon father, could I bear it like Apollon does the sun?"_

_"I'm sure some of your Dryad friends would love to hunt with you." Athena helped from her throne._

_"Oh! Oh! I wanna go!" Apollon waved his hand in the air from his own throne. He looked like a grain of rice in the middle of the giant seat; both herself and her brother were still learning how to use their powers._

_"No boys allowed!" Artemis stuck her tongue out at her younger brother who pouted._

_"Artemis, if it makes you happy, then so be it." Thunder rolled through the skies of the mortal world as to symbolize the promise._

_Artemis jumped down and skipped over to her favorite sister, "Now I'm just like you 'Thena!"_

_The older goddess laughed, "You made a smart choice Arty, you'll see you don't need a man to make you happy."_

_Aphrodite scoffed from next to them. "As if. If you ask me, I think you're making a mistake asking to run around in the woods. It is so dirty there!"_

_"I don't mind it." Artemis waved her other stepsister off from Athena's lap. The two of them laughed together at her disgusted face._

"Artemis? Artemis!" The goddess snapped out of her stupor to realize her sister had been calling her name.

"Yes?"

"You zoned out there for a minute." She laughed more in relief than amusement, just glad her favorite sister was responsive again. "You ok?"

Artemis nodded after shaking her head. "Yes, just, remembering."

When Athena's face sparked with approval and excitement, Artemis found her heart swelled with...she couldn't quite pinpoint the emotion, but she felt she wanted to make Athena proud of her; she looked up to her.

"That's great Arty! What memory was it?" Artemis described what she saw and all through her story, Athena nodded with a focused look in her eyes, like she was very interested in what she was saying. "I saw a common variable in your story," She spoke after the younger goddess finished. "You and I, laughing together like we were just a moment ago, as well as you sitting on father's lap; like sitting on his monument.

"Your memories seem to be triggered by a similar situation of the or any memory, like that one. All we need to do is almost recreate your memories instead of just surrounding you with familiar people." Athena paused, looking at the moon patron. "You up for it?"

Artemis nodded confidently. "So where are we going?"

"Well, the only people from your past that are alive are on Olympus, so we should go there. Do you remember how to transport?" Artemis shook her head, disappointed in herself that she failed to remember the fantastic powers she had been blessed with from birth. "Hopefully going through it once will remind you." The goddess of wisdom muttered, taking her hand. Suddenly everything was bright and Artemis felt herself being moved at lightning speeds followed then by the immediate stop in a new location. Artemis blinked to find her eyelids heavy and couldn't open them as another memory flashed through her head.

_A much older version of herself rushed from the golden gates with a wild expression on her face, blood stains on her clothes and spear. A roar erupted somewhere unseen and she followed it._

_Artemis raced around the corner and skidded to a stop at the sight before her. Ares was pounding on the glass of humungous jar. His screams were muffled, but she could hear him clearly when he yelled, "It is a trap!"_

_Before she knew what was happening, large arms trapped her in a deadly grip. Ares screamed louder. "Your god of war will only see the light of Olympus again if you give yourself to me." The giant snarled in her ear._

_Knowing what she had to do, Artemis stopped her struggle. "I agree, but you must let him free." The giant holding her nodded to an identical one standing by the jar who promptly opened the top. _

_With the bronze cap opened, Ares was finally able to transport out, but not with one last look of sorrow and pity to his savoir. "She is mine at last!" Otus yelled in triumph._

_Artemis caught the snarl on the other giant's face. "What about you?" She struggled to ask with Otus crushing her lungs and windpipe. Sometimes mortal forms had their downsides. "What do you get?"_

_Ephialtes picked up Artemis' dropped spear and held it to Otus' chest, the small toothpick sized weapon grew to accommodate the giant. "We will share, brother, since your plan to capture Hera failed."_

_"Artemis is mine!" The giant dropped his hold on the goddess and slapped the spear point from his chest, pulling out his own. Artemis dropped limply to the ground, inhaling like a fish in attempt to fill her oxygen deprived lungs. Mortal forms are so unreliable._

_With the little power she had left, Artemis changed her form: a beautiful doe. She ran as fast as she could between the fighting brothers. Otus roared and threw his spear in hope to hit her, Ephialtes, seeing this did the same._

_Too busy watching their goddess run away, neither of them saw their opponent's weapon hurtling towards their hearts._

Artemis found herself on her back, staring up into the worried eyes of her step sister. "Artemis! Are you alright? Was it another memory?" Numbly, the goddess nodded while Athena helped her sit up. "Tell me about it."

As Artemis explained what she saw, the two goddesses walked along the marble path; passing nymphs, minor gods, and other assorted mythological beings. They reached the Throne room just as Artemis was telling how Ares escaped.

"What about me?" Said god asked, a pompous smirk forming over his features at the idea.

Athena looked up in surprise, unaware of how far they traveled in such little time but composed herself to explain Artemis' situation; as well as her newest memory. Ares grumbled from his throne, his face was red with either embarrassment, anger, or both.

"That's great!" Apollo exclaimed, coming out of no where to hug his sister. "Now we can recreate those beautiful brother sister moments!"

Artemis laughed and hugged him back. "I am looking forward to it." Everyone in the room stopped dead, not like there was much chatter in the first place, surprised at the young goddess. "What?" She asked, confused to why they would look at her with such confusion.

"You never liked spending time with your big bro." Apollo mocked.

Artemis pulled back from their hug with a frown. "I am older than you."

Apollo laughed and ruffled her hair. "Let's get started!"


	4. Chapter 4

"I know your favorite thing from the past is when you caught your golden stag, so I wanted to reunite you with them." Athena lead Artemis out of her temple on Olympus the next morning. "If that doesn't work, we could always bring the Hunters up for a deer hunt."

Artemis looked at her in confusion but didn't say anything. Honestly golden stags seemed a bit out there but then again, they had just passed green, giggling girls being chased by men with hooves. When Athena wasn't looking, Artemis narrowed her eyes at a tree root and watched with excitement as it came up to trip the love sick male.

Artemis snickered quietly to herself.

"Here we are!" Athena turned back and gave her sister a large smile. "Sometimes I think you really got the better end of the deal Arty, I mean look at them! They're beautiful."

The goddess looked over to the area she was facing, still laughing lightly. When she saw the beautiful creatures before her, she gasped with amazement. The creatures most definitely were 'out there'.

Their light brown fur was almost golden as it shimmered in the light, their brass hooves and antlers shined as they reflected the sunlight. A second, hollow gasp escaped her throat when a memory started up in her head once more.

_The moon goddess was crouched down as she moved silently through the forest; the Hunters nearly silent behind her. They were on a hunting trip, a common occurrence when there were no monsters in the immediate area or they were hungry._

_A flash of something out of the ordinary made Artemis stop so suddenly her lieutenant nearly ran into her. "M'lady?" The young brown haired girl whispered in question._

_Creeping forward quieter then naturally possible, Artemis poked her head through a bush and into a clearing. In said meadow, five beautiful beasts grazed peacefully. The Hunters all had a small intake of breath at the sight of them._

_Artemis nodded to Anndra. In understanding, the demigod took three of her sisters to the other side of the clearing, moving silently so they didn't spook the animals. Those remaining copied them, moving to the sides; all together they surrounded the meadow._

_When she was sure everyone was in position, Artemis gave a signal and waited a few seconds for it to travel around the circle. In perfect sync, they all closed in. Artemis strode into the meadow calmly like she was in charge. She didn't believe in nets, at least not for the purpose she planned to use these beasts for; they would go perfectly with her moon chariot once Hephaestus was finished with it._

_Gently, the goddess held her hand out offering the largest one a peace offering. The Hunters watched with smiles on their faces from the tree line._

_At first the stag stared at the goddess, unmoving and fierce. Artemis may be the animal's protector and goddess, but that didn't mean they all immediately bowed to her every whim. Finally, after a nudge from one of the smaller, and if animals could have emotions, gentler looking doe, the leader accepted._

_A smile broke out on her face, and the Hunters cheered. They came forward and happily pet the four does while Artemis smoothed out a patch of rough fur on the head of the stag._

Artemis brought her hand up to her head where a sharp pin of pain erupted. Just as quickly as it appeared, it was gone.

"Are you alright?" Athena asked from the lead stag, she must have moved during her memory.

She nodded. "Perfect." Artemis joined the other goddess and stroked her pack. She took in the soft ring the bells on their harnesses made when she ran her hand over them, how they seemed happier to see her then the Hunters.

When she came to the chariot itself, Artemis was amazed at how beautiful it was; then again this was Hephaestus they were talking about. The silver metal felt cool under her hand as she hoisted herself into the plush of the driver's seat.

Athena climbed in next to her with an ever present smile on her face. The stag kicked eagerly. Artemis took a deep breath and took the reins. Without warning, the head stag lurched forward without her commanding it.

The two goddesses were pushed back by the forward force but Artemis managed to grip the reins tight as they soared well above normal heights through the daytime sky. She looked over the side and watched as they passed over acres and acres of forest. The green tops raced by and were soon replaced by actual sky, Artemis knew they had left Olympus.

"Where are we going Artemis?" Athena asked from the passenger seat, gripping the soft, plush seat frantically to keep from falling out.

She shrieked as they took a sharp decline. "Ask the deer!"

Their impromptu trip ended quickly as they landed with grace that surprised the goddess. She looked around, trying to figure out where exactly it was that her stag had brought her. They were surrounded by dark, black obelisk stone pillars. There were piles of rubble all over, like there was a building that stood there once before but was now long gone.

Athena gasped from her spot in the carriage. Artemis turned to her and opened her mouth to ask what was wrong and where they were, but a sudden fire burst from inside her. She screamed and fell to her knees, her bones, if she had them, failed her and felt like the fire under her skin was melting them away.

A large pressure bore down on her shoulders, though nothing was touching her but air. Her vision flashed in and out, what she could see was blotched with red. Artemis barely comprehended Athena's frantic calls to her. She wanted to answer, but couldn't find the strength to open her mouth. Just as she was about to call back, her surroundings chanced; an occurrence Artemis had accompanied with a new vision of her past life coming forward.

_All she could think of was the intense pain that the object above her was subjecting onto her. Artemis wanted so bad to just give in and let her new burden take her over, but the sounds of metal on metal, battle cries, all gave her strength despite her inability to actually see them._

_Suddenly, a voice drifted through her eardrums. It took the goddess a moment to put them together, but when she did, she immediately rejected what the young boy had asked of her._

_"The sky, give it to me." The brown haired boy had commanded._

_Apart from the anger of him thinking _he_ could command_ her_, the goddess knew the request was suicide for a mere demigod. "No, boy," She said, taking a moment to gather her strength to say more. "You don't know what you're asking. It will crush you!" The amount of energy it took to say just those two, short sentences nearly made Artemis collapse._

_"Stella took it!" He had argued._

_Though she had no idea who 'Stella' was, or even who he was, Artemis found her mouth moving on its own accord. "She barely survived. She had the spirit of a true huntress. You will not last so long." And she knew it was true, the young girl who had apparently held the sky, if that's what she was holding, made sense now; she was only able to because of her spirit. The male side of their species could never have that kind of power within them. They just weren't capable of it._

_"I'll die anyway," He seemed no less affected by what he just said as if he said my crayon broke. Maybe he did have what it took, the goddess mused. "Give me the weight of the sky!" The boy yelled more confidently, using his newly acquired intensity to slip next to her. At first the burden lessened, but was still crushingly heavy. Then, suddenly, it disappeared, and the goddess was free._

_Artemis took a moment to gain her strength, looking back from her sprawled out position at the boy as he struggled to hold the cold, dark clouds so often thought of as light and fluffy that were in reality so much more heavy than mortals could ever imagine._

_A large cry struck her back to the scene at hand. A large man clad in armor was fighting a much smaller young girl. Artemis recognized her, not only from her memory, but from a past vision. She was the brown haired girl that had given the goddess' orders to the others that were with them; her lieutenant._

_Immediately, Artemis sprang up and ran to help her huntress fight. She wiped out two large knives from sheaths at her waist without thinking about it and jumped up to stab at the giant. She weaved in and out of his swings easily. As she moved, Artemis felt her body twist and turn into different shapes that allowed her to move efficiently and attack with more precision. _

_She finally felt free._

_However, her joy was cut short as the giant she was fighting learned her tactics. He nearly hit her with his javelin, opening a large fissure in the ground. He continued to advance on her when she got an idea._

_Artemis started towards the boy. She saw how hard he was fighting to hold the cursed burden no innocent deserved to hold. 'Get ready.' she somehow sent to him in his head. She was returned with a pained cry, it hurt her heart, but she pushed forward._

_"You fight well for a girl," The Titan she finally remembered as Atlas laughed, thinking he had won. "But you are no match for me."_

_'We will see about that.' Artemis thought to herself, but her thoughts distracted her and the next thing she knew that horrible javelin had swept her feet from under her and she was staring straight into the tip of the weapon._

_A frantic call rang in the goddess' ears and time seemed to slow down. Anndra had jumped in front of her to protect her, shooting an arrow with amazing precision; lodging right into the Titan's forehead. In a pained fueled rage, he swatted her like a fly off to the side. Artemis heard the impact of her fragile body as it connected to one of the stone walls. She had to resist the urge to cringe and acted like she had given up, not getting up or moving._

_"The first blood in a new war." Atlas laughed in triumph, as if he hadn't just potentially fatally injured his own daughter. As his weapon came down toward the goddess, Artemis sprang into action, grabbing it and pulling with all her might; sending the surprised Titan over her head. He rammed into the boy who fell without a fight. "No! Not again!" He yelled, forced to lift the heavy burden to prevent himself from being crushed._

_Completely forgetting about everything that was going on around her, Artemis ran to where her huntress had landed after being thrown. She took the limp body in her arms, tears threatening at the edges of her eyelids. The boy called her name and she looked up. The look she was given was questioning as he looked Anndra over. "The wound is poisoned." She found herself saying. The cut on her side didn't look recent, and she knew it hadn't happened here._

_"Can you heal her?" The young boy asked, barely managing to keep himself upright. The goddess was barely aware of the sudden explosion, guns, that filled the air behind them._

_She looked up slowly to see a plan shooting down at the lines of monsters. "A brave man." She said. "I cannot heal her, but I know who can; we must get Anndra away from here." She didn't even know it was there, but Artemis removed a hunting horn from her belt and blew into it and listened as it echoed down the valleys._

_Her chariot appeared without fail and landed next to the small group. "Get in." The goddess commanded, directed the boy to help her with her injured huntress. He wrapped her in a blanket she had poofed in as Artemis guided the lead stag away from the battle._

_When she heard the boy mutter about Santa Clause, she took a moment to chuckle to herself. "Indeed, young half blood. And where do you think that legend came from?" The goddess turned back around as they flew farther away._

Artemis sat up with a jolt, only she wasn't at the black stone mountain anymore, she recognized the room as the resting room in her temple. On Olympus. She was back on Olympus, but how did she get here, and how long was she out?

Looking around, the goddess found a glass of nectar on the stand next to the bed she was laying on. Greedily, she drank it. The cool liquid soothed her dry throat. "I am glad to see you finally awake."

With dull surprise, the immortal waiting for her was not the half sister that had stayed loyally by her side, but the man who had given her life in the first place. "Father?" The word seemed foreign on the goddess' tongue, like even in the past she didn't say it much.

The immortal's old features gave away his experience but portrayed nothing of his real age. Wrinkle lines along his mouth and eyes deepened with the question like remembrance from his wounded daughter. The deep blue of his eyes seemed to crackle to life with real electricity as he approached her, resting a hand on his daughter's shoulder. "How are you feeling? Athena told me of your experience at the old ruins."

The ancient way he spoke surprised Artemis, but it felt as familiar as anything now a days. She nodded, a bit taken back by the way he described the location her stag had taken her; it must have been a truly old place for her father, one of the oldest of all of them, to refer to it as ancient. "Better," She admitted, feeling the buzz of the nectar as it ran through her veins, mixing with the golden inchor blood of an immortal.

Zeus placed his other hand on Artemis' free shoulder, a small smile easily gave away his emotions; the goddess felt like she could always tell what her father was thinking, how he felt, even when he didn't. Now he looked proud, proud of her recovery but she felt it was deeper than that at the same time, like he was remembering himself. "I am glad..." He trailed off, going back to just looking at her.

Artemis allowed her father to take his time, sensing he needed it.

Long after she had lost track of time, Zeus spoke. "I was scared," he admitted to the fragile looking girl in his arms, even more protective of her now, more worried than he ever was in the past. "My little girl..." He shook his head, words didn't seem easy for him, something Artemis had no trouble picking up on.

"I never told you how much you truly mean to me Artemis," The king of the gods tried again, pulling his daughter down to the bed, wrapping his arm around her shoulders to bring her close to him. Artemis allowed this, a wave of content and almost protected feelings washing over her, stronger with every word her father managed to express. "Watching you lose the fight with the Nemean lion was the hardest things I have had to do."

"You watched me?" Artemis questioned with slight surprise, not really reacting to how normal the statement actually sounded.

Zeus gave her shoulders a squeeze. "I always check up on you." He left it at that but it was all Artemis needed. She leaned into the immortal, taking in his slightly singed robes and the faint smell of burning cloth that surrounded him. The two of them sat there, content with the silence and neither breaking it with unnecessary communication.

To the young immortal, sitting quietly with her father was a nice way to spend a day.


	5. Chapter 5

Athena watched the scene with a small smile.

Their father had never directly told any of his children that he loved them, and Athena knew it was hard for him, despite his never ending lust, to express how he felt. Zeus could give gifts, he made most of the god/goddesses who were demigods before into immortals like Artemis and Apollo.

Artemis, if anyone, deserved this time to be loved by their father. It was actually quite an amusing scene that was laid out before the goddess of wisdom. Here was their big, scary, immortal father who radiated power and fear, holding the small frame of her half sister. She hadn't quite got the hang of changing her form yet, but her body seemed to regress to a very young age, nine if Athena had to guess.

The two of them looked like Santa Clause and a little girl who climbed on his lap to ask for some extravagant gift for the holiday. The irony from the scenario she thought of made the older goddess laugh to herself. Artemis had not only created the myth of the Saint, but also did exactly what she was now, millenniums ago.

Athena still remembered the first year the newest goddess had arrived at Olympus perfectly.

"_Lady Athena," The goddess turned at the new voice as it called her name. A nervous nymph stood frozen at the entrance to her temple, visibly shaking from her bow. "Lord Zeus and the Olympians request your presence in the Throne room, m'lady." _

_Athena could easily feel the absolute terror that ran through the nature spirit's voice, it probably didn't help she interrupted the goddess' training session and had her saber nonchalantly pointed at the messenger. "Very well," She sighed, carefully depositing the weapon in the corresponding slot in the rack. "Dismissed."_

_The thankful spirit bowed one more time before quickly bolting from sight. Athena grinned as her prized owl landed on her shoulder plate. Together, they slowly made their way towards the largest building on her cloud home. The goddess didn't bother to take off any of her sparring gear; if she needed, it would give her some extra power in an argument. Despite being with each other for hundreds of years, Athena was still very good at intimidating her siblings and elders. _

_Minor gods, nymphs, and satyrs moved out of the goddess of war's way, even those far away stopped their conversations to cower._

_Athena walked with her head high, it was nice to be feared._

_When she finally made it to the throne room, she seemed to be the last to arrive, save Aphrodite who click-clacked in a few moments later, looking very uninterested in whatever all ten of them were called here for. When she saw that even Dionysus was there instead of with the mortals serving his punishment, the goddess frowned and started to worry a bit. _

_It wasn't a solstice, they weren't scheduled for a meeting for months. Impromptu things like this only happened when-_

"_Good," Zeus boomed, drawing all attention to him and silencing any chit chat. He stood in front of his throne with arms crossed innocently behind him, his shoulders broad with fierceness she inherited. "You are all here."_

"_Father," Dionysus drooned, his head resting lazily in his hand. "What is this meeting about?" He twirled a wine bottle between his fingers that promptly disappeared. The wine god frowned up at their father but didn't say anything else._

"_I have brought you all here for an announcement, I hope you all will-"_

"_Oh get _on _with it already." Hera snapped from her throne, glaring at the column to her right and refusing to look at any of the immortals in front of her. Athena leaned forward a bit, quickly picking up and anticipating the reason they were brought together._

_Zeus cleared this throat, an echo of thunder followed and probably smitted some Greek citizen on the mainland. He moved to the side, allowing all nine other gods to see the two small figures fighting on the vast marble wasteland of his throne. "APOLLON!" A girl's voice cried out. Despite their small size, Athena could see there was boy pulling her deep auburn hair._

"_Apollon," The lord of the gods scolded, picking the boy up with his left hand and the girl with his right. "Do not pull your sister's hair."_

_The small boy pouted from his place now centered in his father's palm. "Yes father." The girl stuck her tongue out at him._

"_Brothers, sisters, children," He addressed them all. "Please meet your newest godly siblings, Apollon and Artemis."_

There was an uproar, naturally, of adding two demigods to the council, but eventually everyone saw Zeus' stubbornness was useless to fight; the twins became the newest Olympians in training.

Athena remembers when she first met Artemis, decked out in all her scariest fighting gear, looming high over the small girl, even in normal size bodies.

"_Artemis," Zeus led the small girl up to where Athena, Hestia, Aphrodite, and Demeter were speaking; a strong hand resting on her small shoulder. "Meet my sisters, Hestia and Demeter," The two older goddesses shook the girl's small hand. She didn't seem affected by the power or experience they radiated, waving with dimples out. "And your half sisters, Aphrodite and Athena."_

_Artemis faltered when she went to say hello to the goddess of love, covering her nose and frowning. "You smell."_

_Aphrodite scoffed with offense, Ares snickered from a few feet away. The goddess turned and zapped him with a pink light, turning his chiton from blood red to bright pink, his sword now a bow and arrow with hearts on the ends. The god of war gave a battle cry and stormed off._

"_This is the finest essence of lavender!" She exclaimed, turning her head and crossing her arms._

"_Too much." The small girl commented again, scrunching up her nose in distaste. The remaining goddesses burst with laughter._

_Athena placed a hand on the young immortal. "You have made an enemy for eternity." She commented as the remaining three level headed goddesses watched the emotional love patron storm away in a barrage of clicking thanks to her heels. _

_Still watching the retreating form of their half sibling, Artemis asked in a dull voice, "What of you?" She finally met the shining grey eyes of the goddess of wisdom with no fear, no sign that she was asking an immortal being what side she stood on. "Are you enemy or friend?"_

_Athena replaced her hand with an arm, easily encompassing the small frame of her newest sibling; deciding at that moment that this young girl was indeed special, and she was looking forward to watching her grow. "A sister."_

Athena wondered if Artemis remembered that moment, she had recalled they were sisters even if not her name, and that had to count for something; it did to Athena.

A large hand touched her shoulder and forced the goddess out of depths of her mind. Calmly she turned her head to see Zeus was now standing next to her, a smile on his face. "You must be getting soft if I can sneak up on you." Her father joked, a rumble of laughter vibrated his vocal cords.

Rolling her eyes, Athena shook her head good heartedly. "You make more noise than the Minotaur walking through a china store."

Zeus threw his head back and laughed, but he calmed down quickly and his facial features became troubled, like he couldn't figure how to say what he had on his mind. "Thank you."

Athena cocked her head to the side, temporarily confused. "For?" There were dozens of dozens of accumulating things he could be thanking her for from the millennia that he had yet to do, but the goddess had a feeling it had nothing to do with what she'd done in the past.

He threw a look over his shoulder at the small girl sitting on a bed much too big for her figure, watching for a moment while she tinkered with the things on her side table. "For staying with her, working so hard to recover her memories...Help her have a child."

Athena snapped her head to look at her father in surprise. "How did you know of that?"

"She told me." A small smile formed on his lips as he kept his eyes on his younger daughter.

The goddess of wisdom shook her head. "I was not aware you two were talking."

"No," The lord of the gods chuckled dryly with an almost sad humor. "_You _were too busy remembering."

Athena sighed. "She is my sister and I passed my chance to be part of her life, it saddens me it took something like this to make me realize how extraordinary she is, immortal or not. I just wish I was not so cooped up here for two millennia, I could tell her all the things she does not remember. Instead I watch her, day in and day out struggle with the past with no clue what, who, or how it ties her. It is painful."

Zeus looked at his feet and at the marble floor of his youngest immortal daughter's temple. "You cannot blame yourself anymore than I or the rest of us can. With you to help her, I can only hope she focuses the good instead of all the bad, then maybe she will spend more time with us here instead of risking herself on land so much."

"She always was the smartest one of us," Athena stated somewhat grimly, staring at the goddess that was the topic of their conversation with slight fascination. "What is she is hurt again?"

"She cannot die Athena, you know this." Zeus frowned, confused to his usually very rational and level headed daughter would act so emotional. "We cannot predict when or if one of us will be injured, but we can pray it never happens again. If so, we know how to fix it."

Athena didn't answer. "I miss my daughter," Zeus told her, his head still down. He had reverted to a very ancient form of himself as result of the loss of Artemis' memories, like he wanted to go back to when she had stormed off Olympus and out of his life. "The mortals know her better than I, and I wish to change that. Please Athena, keep her here; she will listen to you."

She didn't answer him for a while but he didn't leave, knowing she would eventually start their conversation again after she did some thinking. "She offered me to go with her, I cannot imagine why I refused."

"I needed you here, you knew that."

Athena paused before her next question, she knew it was dangerous territory to bring it up not because of her father's feelings or anger, instead because of his shame but she had too; if she didn't face the problem now, it would only hang in her head for another three millennia. "Needed me like you needed mother."

Zeus was quiet like she anticipated. He stayed with his shoulder line up with hers, facing away from Artemis as she continued to watch the young goddess reacquaint herself with her room. "There are some things I wish I could forget."

"The fates are not so kind."

"No," He agreed, letting out a deep, heavy sigh full of the stress of his past actions and started walking away. Zeus paused after a few steps, turning his head to the side but not completely looking at her. "I am proud of you Athena, of your morals, your intelligence, your loyalty, and the love of a good sister. We are family, and you never turn your back on family, no matter how you disagree. Nothing is more important than a sibling."

With all he could say out, the god of the heavens walked away, leaving the wisdom goddess to stand in her place. His words rooted her to the spot, a kind of mental paralysis she's never experienced.

Artemis dropped a saber, the metal clinging against marble caused sharp echos to radiate through the open pillared building and disappear into the clouds of Olympus. Shyly, the goddess turned to she her half sister for the first time. "Hey 'Thena, heh, am I normally that clumsy?"

Athena allowed herself a small laugh, fully entering the temple for the first time despite being there for a long time already. "No, from what I saw of your skills with a sword, you were very graceful."

The goddess of the hunt chuckled nervously. "I guess that will just be another thing I will add to my list to practice right behind transporting and transformation." Athena gave a small nod of approval, resting on her half sister's bed who joined her shortly after. The two goddesses were silent for a few minutes before Artemis asked another question. "What was so bad up here that made me run away?"

Athena found herself laughing before she could stop herself. Of course Artemis heard the conversation between her their father, it was foolish to think she couldn't or wouldn't. "You did not run away Artemis."

"Was it so bad here that I would avoid coming back?" She rephrased the question, she needed a clear answer from the goddess sitting next to her and she would get it if it metaphorically killed her.

"In ancient times...we reflected the culture of those who worshiped us. Then, you would kill your brother or your father if it bettered yourself and well...it was difficult; we were as brutal to each other as the mortals. We took stabs at each other, let the wounds fester but never attempted to fix the problem, even if it were simple. You were the only one willing to say 'I am done' and dedicated yourself to your huntresses and hunting monsters, which was easier than dealing with us."

Artemis kept an indifferent somewhat troubled expression which, on such an innocent face of a nine year old, looked very out of place and somewhat ominous like something out of a horror story. "What does father want to forget?"

Knowing there was no way around telling the story, Athena moved to sit in the wicker chair across from the bed in order to judge her companion's reaction easily. "I did not become a goddess because I did something extraordinary as a demigod like you, I am not a goddess because Hera is my mother, I am a goddess because my mother was a Titan; father's first wife from right after the end of the Titan war. My mother preceded over all that was knowledge and wisdom, she knew the outcome of Zeus fighting Kronos and sided with him and the other, original Olympians.

"The oracle of Gaea told father his son would overthrow him, so to avoid it all together, he swallowed mother and I while she was still pregnant. Even in the womb I was a goddess, and you cannot contain an immortal for long. I continued to grow in father's skull until Hephaestus split his head and freed me."

"That is why your domain is wisdom, to take over for your mother?"

Athena nodded slowly, the common thoughts of what she would have been if Zeus wasn't so paranoid swum through her mind. "I was born already grown, like you were born not much older than what you look now, clad in battle armor so Zeus also granted me war and strategies."

"What did Ares think of that?" Artemis tilted her head, interested in the drama of her half sister's past. Another thing she knew they talked about before yet she didn't remember.

Athena chuckled at her curiosity and amnesia caused unknowing. "I was born a few hundred years before Ares. He enjoyed the blood spilling side of war, the physical demand and exertion while I took to the planning aspect. We have a split domain and we are actually very close."

"You sound surprised."

Nodding her agreement, the goddess had never given it much thought, but she had to admit, the two of them got along fairly well compared to the others. Maybe it was because they both controlled a part of the same realm, they were bound to have to deal with each other eventually.

Something Zeus said suddenly struck her, _'We are family, never turn your back on family, no matter how you may disagree. Nothing is more important than a sibling.' _Had Athena lived by this all this time without knowing it, putting her brother's arrogance and boasting aside to get a common goal archived?

Athena placed a hand on her half sister's knee, offering a smile she hoped would make the other girl forget what they were previously talking about."Enough of that, come now, you have many memories still missing." Artemis nodded enthusiastically, following the goddess of war out other temple.


	6. Chapter 6

"Where are we going 'Thena?"

"What will we need?"

"Oo! Can I teleport us there Athene? Pretty please?"

"Athen-"

"Artemis, please." The older goddess gently hushed the ramblings of her younger half-sister, a smile giving away her lack of seriousness. "Be still." Looking up at her, Artemis gave a shy smile, knowing full well how irritating she had been.

The two finished their walk in a comfortable silence, hearing the ambient chatter from nymphs, satyrs, and other gods on Olympus but not listening. Athena stopped at an elegantly decorated temple. "Whose house is that?"

Athena chuckled softly at the question. "It is a temple, all the buildings here are. They act more of a place for us to connect to the mortals, to our children and hear their prayers."

Pausing to take in the information, Artemis shook her head. "But mine has a bed."

"Yes many of them, if not all, do. Do you know whose we have stopped at?" Artemis looked from her sister's caring, patient face to the large marble building looming in front of her. The outside was painted with scenes of peace, feasts, and fire. Bright reds, calm oranges, and deep yellows graced almost every surface to make the white of the pristine marble pop even more.

"No," The huntress shook her head, frustrated with herself. "I cannot remember."

Athena placed a light hand on the young immortal's back, gently forcing her forward into the temple along with her. "You will soon enough, you must believe in yourself. She will teach you this, come." Artemis allowed herself to be led into the temple, taking in all the decorations and carvings, hoping they would tell her something.

All the carving were of peaceful homes, families, large feasts, all with calm fires in the background painted with the finest colors of the sun. "Fire?" She muttered to herself under her breath, confusion beginning to fade slowly.

"Athena," A new, soft voice called out to the two goddesses in welcome. "Artemis, how nice it is to see you. How are you feeling my niece?"

"I...I am-" Suddenly Artemis felt unable to speak, she was taken back by the girl in front of her who could not have been much older than her. The young girl had calm, orange eyes that seemed to flicker, surrounded by a face that seemed to know no other emotion than happiness, understanding, love, and content.

A warm hand on her shoulder silenced the fishlike movements of her mouth in attempt to respond. "That is understood, you need not strain yourself." While the huntress was stunned, her new aunt addressed her half-sister. "To what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?"

Athena sat gracefully on the marble statue base that held the celestial bronze cauldron, burning with a strong fire that seemed to be blistering independently without any fuel. "I was hoping for some advice, Artemis and I are going to the ancient lands to retrieve her remaining memories."

The girl wrapped her arm around Artemis, surrounding her with a spirit of comfort, compassion, and kindness she's never felt before, at least that she remembered. "Yes, you must go to the cities and places sacred to her, but it must be sooner than later." Now even Athena was confused as their aunt spoke. "If Artemis does not recover her memories by the solstice, her existence will fade, there will be no more goddess of the moon."

Wisdom shot up, "Hestia! Apollo has been teaching her how to bring the moon across the sky, he has been picking up the slack since she was injured-"

Hestia raised a hand that silenced her immediately. "What responsibilities an immortal takes on does not determine the strength of their essence, their soul and beliefs do; once a god or goddess loses faith, confidence in who they are, what they believe in…" She trailed off to look down at the younger huntress, a sad smile ripped across her features.

Athena collapsed back to the pedestal with her hands covering her face. "No, that cannot be…"

Artemis wanted nothing more than to sit with her sister and comfort her but the girl whose hair that looked and felt like fire was holding her firmly by the shoulders. "The first step," She told her, ignoring the crushed immortal to their right. "Is to know the past, before your past."

The goddess of hunt stared up at the woman she had met for the first time again barely three minutes ago. She had watched with wide eyes as Athena talked to her and now as Hestia looked down at her, but understood not one word. Neither guest in the temple could respond to the suggestion before Hestia reached out her hand, the previously calm flames responded to her call, the deep orange flickered violently to a harsh green, shooting out to engulf her hand and up her arm.

A smile unlike anything Artemis would expect to grace her gentle features formed, an almost crazed, sadistic glint came over her eyes. Hestia brought her flaming hand up to her niece's forehead. The touch wasn't burning or hot to the goddess of the hunt like she anticipated, instead a warmth engulfed her from the top of her head to her toes.

Athena looked up when the stream of fire moved over her head and watched as it made contact with her half-sister. As soon as Hestia's flame covered finger touched the younger immortal's forehead, her eyes rolled back and replaced by a glowing white light. Her mouth hung open, light illuminating from there as well. "Will it hurt her? She has not reacted to a memory that way before."

Hestia shook her head, keeping her eyes trained on her task. "No, but these are not her memories, they are fragments; facts she knew from before by course of our stories." Her face darkened behind the glow of her hand, Athena saw sadness and pain. "They are too painful memories for her to handle in whole."

"What of you aunt?" The goddess of wisdom asked, her eyes glazing over as she continued to watch. "To whom are these memories suited for?"

Hestia kept her mouth closed for a long time, not answering her niece. "In a perfect world, they would burden no one, but here, they burden only those who can handle their strength. Be thankful you do not fall into that category, Athena, be very thankful."

Athena didn't know what to say in response, instead, she brought their attention back to the whole reason they were here. "Where in time will you end?"

"Your birth seems a fit time, she was ever so curious of the method you have children." The smallest hint of a blush came over the goddess of wisdom's face and she turned her eyes back to Artemis.

"_Tell me Gaia," A voice rumbled through the air, the command directed to a figure seemingly overgrown by veins. "Is what your prophet says be the truth?"_

_When her eyes opened, they were empty sockets, inside showed scenes of grassy meadows, desert sand hills, forests, and lifeless plateaus. "I speak only the truth Cronus, your golden son will be your downfall."_

"_Push my lady!" A girl who looked like a tree gently commanded a woman who, despite giving birth, looked absolutely perfect. Her hair was half up and laced with classical Greek adornments, her face was flawless though her features pained and concentrating. "It is a-"_

"_I will not be overthrown!" The same voice boomed, scooping up the baby already graced with bright red hair, like a fire, swallowing it in one gulp. _

_The woman sobbed into the dryad's shoulder. "She will be a lovely girl my lady, one day."_

"_One more time Rhea," The tree girl coaxed again, trying not to look up at the king who loomed over her, waiting for the sixth child to be born. She held the baby sized rock just under the cover of the queen's chiton. "Here is-" The poor dryad didn't finish her sentence before the rock was statched from her hands and swallowed like the three girls and two boys before it._

_She placed her fingers into the infant's mouth to keep him from crying and ruining the plan until the king had stomped out. "Here is your son, finally."_

_The woman took the baby, constantly looking up through his bright blond curls, and smiled gratefully down at the only one of her children that had avoided being eaten by her paranoid husband. "He will be our salvation, Zeus, my son. You will save us all."_

"_Where is my drink!" Cronus bellowed out to the deep black walls of the palace. A boy hurried into the throne room, his blond curls bouncing everywhere, carefully carrying a chalus. "Finally! I should have you smited for your-"_

"_Give the boy a break," Rhea calmed him from the armrest of the throne she was sitting on. "He is cute."_

_Cronus glowered at the boy his wife vouched for. "Very well, away from my sight before I change my mind, boy." The small boy quickly sprinted out of the room, leaving the two Titans alone._

"_Drink my love, you scream too much and hydrate too little." Not arguing, the Titan downed the purple liquid in one gulp. Immediately, the king lurched forward, clutching his stomach as rolls of pain rendered him immobile. "What treason is this!?" _

_A man with closely cropped blond curls ran in just as five new bodies fell to the floor. "Brothers!" he screamed for the two men sprawled out on the floor. "Bare arms! Mother, take the girls to safety, do not leave until I come to retrieve you."_

_"I believe in you Zeus, you and your brothers will break us of this curse." Rhea ran her hand across her son's now chiseled features, a dramatic change from the chubby boyish ones that had just given her husband the potion to free her previous children._

_The man nodded and turned to his father, finally beginning to recover. His brothers stood at his sides, one with a trident while the oldest clutched a black sword encrusted with various precious jewels. Drawing his own weapon, it commanded the attention of everyone in the room. It crackled with barely contained energy, sparking off in random directions; a lightning bolt forged just for him._

_"Treason! Mutiny! By my own blood!" Cronous screeched, reaching out to materialize his scythe. _

_"You lost the right when you swallowed us." Zeus' brother growled, pointing his trident at their father's neck. "Now you shall rot for eternity."_

_Zeus walked down a street paved of the finest white marble with his head high. "Construction is finally complete." A female voice mused, turning the head of the new lord of the gods. The woman strode up to him, wrapping a petite arm around the much larger, muscular one of her husband. _

_Her hair was as black as night, her flawless features glanced over the scene ahead of them as they walked, content and filled with happiness. Stunningly bright, intelligent grey eyes sparkled as the light reflected onto her face, illuminating her perfection. "Finally." The god of the heavens agreed, covering her fragile yet strong hands with his free one. "No more of the depressing black stone of-"_

_Before he could mention the disturbing palace of his father, she quieted him softly. "Shh now, no more talk of the past, the future ahead of us is bright, let us focus on this instead."_

_Zeus nodded, his tense shoulders relaxing as he strolled with his wife. "Speaking of the future...I must meet with Gaia's prophet."_

_The Titaness frowned, stopping to face her husband to full portray her disagreement. "Zeus, that prophet is the whole reason Cronus swallowed your siblings; out of fear for the future. Do you wish to replay this? Everything we fought so hard to overcome?"_

_Smiling lightly, the King took her hands, she let him reluctantly. "Metis, my love, it is what the Earth Mother wishes of me. Who am I, a devoted husband and ruler, to deny the command of the Earth Mother?"_

_The Titan of wisdom scrunched up her nose, scoffing without venom. "And how does doing the bidding of the my mother make you a devoted husband?"_

_Zeus laughed, rumbling the skies below their feet. He leaned forward to kiss her forehead, relaxing her features into that of understanding and consideration. "A happy mother in law makes a breathing husband to come home. I promise you I will let the prophecy run it's course, whatever the Earth Mother predicts." _

_"You, like your father, shall fall to the sword of your first born son."_

_"Zeus," Metis called, a large grin breaking out on her features as she found her husband looking out on the godly city of white marble. "I have the most fantastic of news!"_

_The king of the heavens turned to greet his partner, plastering on a smile to hide the worried one he had just been wearing as he looked out at Olympus. "Yes my beautiful wife, what news makes you dance across the room so?"_

_"Oh Zeus," She ran a loving hand over his sharp jaw line. "I am pregnant! It is a girl, I can feel it. Oh but if it were a boy," The Titaness took his hand and placed it on her still somewhat flat stomach that had started to grow already. "He would be just like you."_

_"Metis, this is fantastic news." Zeus told her, though she didn't catch the worried frown that formed after he brought her into a hug. The prophecy on his mind. _

_"Zeus?" The shaky voice of the queen of the gods called out as the whole city shook, large pounding booms followed, shortly after the floor moved once more as the cycle repeated._

_"Metis," He called, bringing her into his arms, features dark and forlorn but not because of the strange events. "Olympus is under attack, you must run, change form; protect the child."_

_The Titaness nodded, quickly wiping away a few worried tears that had fallen from her eyes, now calmed by her husband's confidence. Her form changed and shrunk until the mortal body of a woman was replaced with that of a fly. Zeus raised his hand which she promptly landed on. _

I am so sorry my love. _The guilty thought ran through his mind just before he quickly brought his hand up to his mouth. The rumbling and pounding stopped upon his command._

_"Ugh..." Zeus gripped his head as he sat on his throne. _

_"Father? Are you alright?" The god of messengers questioned, becoming concerned by the prolonged amount of time his father had been suffering from an obviously very painful headache. _

_"It has gotten unbearable! My head!"_

_Snapping his fingers, the god of tricks grinned. "I know! Stay right there, I will be back in a flash." True to his word, he returned only a moment later with his half-brother. "This should do the trick."_

_With a great effort, Zeus stood. "I will try anything."_

_Hephaestus raised his hammer and with one, strong stroke, made contact with his father's head. His skull promptly split, gaining a scream of pain from the king of gods as he was thrown backwards. A burning light forced the other two males to look away._

_When it faded, a new figure stood in front of them. _

_She stood nearly as tall as them, her deep black hair pulled back and out of the way of her face, covered by the celestial bronze helmet with a blood red plume. Her body was covered with fine leather straps connecting to perfect fitting bronze plates that protected her chest and arms. A leather and metal war skirt cut off at mid-thigh, shin guards stretched down her knees to just above a pair of black gladiator sandals. A wicked sword hung from her waist on one side with a matching knife on the other while a pair of close combat knives were strapped to her thigh and calf._

_Intimidating, analyzing grey eyes watched the men in front of her gawk._

Hestia took her hand away from the young immortal. The light in her eyes and mouth dimmed slowly until completely gone, leaving just the confused goddess behind. "Artemis-" Athena cut off as her half sister's body began to lean dangerously close to falling. She reached out to catch her before she got very far. "Artemis! Artemis can you hear me?"

Slowly, her eyelids opened as a pair of bright grey blue irises, identical to the faint glow of the moon, made contact with the worried and concerned deep grey of her sister's. "Metis?" She croaked out in momentary confusion.

"Art...Artemis, it is me, Athena?" By the end of the stuttered sentence, the goddess of wisdom was questioning it fact as well.

Artemis shook her head, her vision clearing. "Athena, Hestia." Both immortals visibly relaxed at the recollection.

"We must get to Greece."


	7. Chapter 7

"Athena," Hestia stopped her. "A moment if you do not mind."

The goddess of wisdom sighed, hesitating before letting her half-sister stand on her own, glad when she didn't wobble. "I will be there soon, prepare your stags." Artemis grinned and nodded quickly before lightly jogging out of the temple, seemingly recovered from her moment of weakness.

"Do not be too shaken up by the confusion, you look so much like your mother. We all miss her."

Athena kept her gaze firmly on the straps of her sandals, hoping the downward gravity would make any tears fall right from her eyes rather than roll down her face. "Father obviously did not." She muttered bitterly.

Warmth engulfed her body when Hestia placed a hand on her shoulder. "Zeus could not get out of bed for years after he swallowed Metis, it affected all of us; the mortals were showered by never ending rain. Only when he got up did you start to make your presence known." Athena looked up in curious confusion as her aunt continued talking. "Hera was delighted, surprising I know, but she wanted a daughter; she did not care it was from another woman because she was not there to interfere.

"You were born full grown, already set in your ways, it was hard for any of us to get close to you at first. There are times even now that I see Hera show you favoritism, maybe it would do you good to finally have that mother you always longed for."

Athena rolled her eyes, her stepmother was a vile goddess who cared only for herself. There was no way she ever wanted to pretend she was her mother. "Hestia, Artemis caught me by surprise but that does not mean-"

"You do not always have to be strong Athena." The old goddess interrupted with a sad smile. "To the mortals you are a figure of strength of mind, a consistent figure never wavering, but here on Olympus we can have weaknesses; you can show your emotions Athena. We are your family, we have flaws just like you.

"Ares is not afraid to show his affection to Aphrodite here while the mortals think of him as a war soaked deity, Apollo tries his newest songs on us before sending them to the mortals, Demeter and her remedies-"

"I never understood that," Athena crossed her arms, glaring off at the pillar so she didn't have to make eye contact with her aunt. She had used that word again, _family_, that her father had gotten her with earlier. "How would she know they aid mortals if they don't kill _immortals_."

"Athena," Hestia sighed at how stubborn her niece was acting, then again, she was her father's child. "It is ok to be sad sometimes, it is ok to show how you feel to more than just your books. I miss my mother, sometimes I stare into the fire and wonder what she was like, did she give me my name or did my siblings? Would she have loved me if she knew I had powers of destructive flames? I know you think of Metis."

Athena relaxed her arms, looking sadly down at the petite floor tiles that blended together to form a beautiful mosaic. She sighed, knowing what Hestia wanted her to say. "What would I be if she were still here? What would have been like if I were born a child, how would my personality be different?"

The goddess of the hearth placed a loving hand on her shoulder, the small smile lifting her spirits just a little. "Every titan needs a god to take over, just look at Apollo and Artemis, they took over from Helios and Selene. Your mother would have easily seen who you must be and given you the title you have now."

Athena nodded. "But what about being a child?' 

"You have eternity to be a child Athena, Artemis was quite good at bringing out that side of you." The last part jumped the goddess of wisdom who looked behind her where the younger immortal had skipped off. "There is something you must know before your journey," Hestia recalled her attention. "Orion must be the last memory Artemis remembers, she must be as close to her previous thinking as possible. If she learns of his death before all of her memory returns, she will close off, and those remaining will not be absorbed."

"She will fade…" Athena sighed, closing her eyes in overwhelming sadness. "There is no way to change her feelings? I do not want her to push us away after so much progress."

Hestia shook her head, equally as saddened by a replay of how her niece reacted to the death of her lover. "No, she must recall _everything._"

Athena shook her head one last time. "I will make sure it is last, thank you Hestia." She gave the older immortal a quick hug before trudging out of the brightly colored temple. Athena saw Artemis lacing up her stag from the far side of the courtyard when an idea flashed through her mind. Immediately, she changed her direction until she arrived at an equally as bright temple.

"Apollo!"

The blond teenager emerged with a lyre. "Hey sis, what's up, are you letting me take Arty for some quality bro-sis time?"

"No Apollo," Athena almost laughed at his pout but steedied herself for the serious conversation. "Listen closely to me, you must go to the Fates and beg, plead, grovel, anything you have to, to get them to change what happened between you and Orion."

Apollo stopped the light strumming of his instrument to gawk at the stunning demand from his half-sister. "Hold on, what? I can't change the past, no matter how badly I want to."

"I know, but the Fates can tell you how if you convince them. Whatever you do, you _have _to get them to allow the small altercation of events. Orion still must die, but how he does, can be up to debate. Apollo, do anything you must, I miss the carefree and loving girl Artemis was before, the one that loved spending time with us; I know you do as well."

Apollo looked down at his lyre, fiddling with the string without making noise. "I live with that guilt every day. If it makes her happier, I will give up my immortality to make it happen."

Reaching out, Athena placed her hand on her half brother's fiddling hands. "She would never forgive you if you did that, and father would kill you." The two siblings shared a laugh. "See the Fates, do what you can. Hestia says Orion must be the last thing she remembers so you have some time."

Apollo nodded. "She is right, by learning it any sooner she would not want to know the rest of her past; she would start the processes of grief all over again and fade into existence."

"Do all of you prophets talk to each other or something?"

With a halfhearted smile, the god of prophecies shook his head gently. "Go, teach her of all the good things from her past. I will deal with the bad." Athena smiled back at him, turning and leaving him to strum a sad tune on his lyre.

Apollo walked slowly to the edges of Olympus where the Fates stayed. As he walked, the bright laughter, happy conversations, music, and light all faded. Even him, the god of the sun, felt more and more dimmed as he approached the den of the three demons.

"Klotho, Lakhesis, Atropos." He greeted the sisters with forced charm. They turned from their loom at his entrance, hissing quietly at his glow in the darkened temple. "I come with a...a request and I will not leave until it is fulfilled." He tried to sound confident but the dread and depression surrounding the sisters was starting to affect him.

"Apollon!" One of them exclaimed but Apollo couldn't tell because none of their mouths moved, an ancient voice simply traveled through the air to hit him in the face. "What is it you request of us, sun god."

Ignoring the way whichever one spit out 'sun god' like it was poison, Apollo continued. "Artemis-"

"She lost her memory!" A different voice chimed in.

The prophet's chest deflated with unused air, sighing. "Yes, now, I came because of Orion." He waited to be interrupted again but wasn't. "I miss my sister, everyone on Olympus misses how she use to be before...that happened. I want her to be happy again, I will do anything if you would just change my involvement in his death."

None of the Fates spoke for what felt like eternity to Apollo, he would be too late to change anything if they kept this up. The third voice spoke, startling the god. "Anything?" Apollo nodded quickly, knowing she would continue without his answer anyway. "Ok son of Zeus, we will grant your request."

A great pressure lifted off his shoulders, Apollo opened his mouth the thank them when the first voice came back. "You will be as Atlas is with the sky, you alone will bear the guilt of what could have been for your sister." A moment passed with ruffling of cloth before a green, wart infected hand reached out of the black cloak of the sister closest to him.

On a ring of blue, grey, and deep purple beads, hung a pendent. It was meticulously carved from the finest wood Apollo had ever seen or touched. The main body of the amulet was a circle, but it seemed more than just a circle; as he ran his fingers over the small details, the sun god realised it wasn't just one circle, it was two crescents carved facing each other like a reflection on water.

Inside the two crescents, a perfect arrow cut through the circle; it looked like it could easily be broken off as it posed in the offensive position: pulled back and ready to be shot.

Along the inside ring of one of the crescents was an engraving Apollo had to strain himself to see in the darkness. When he was able to read it, he nearly threw up.

_To my lady, I will love tho for eternity _read in ancient Greek, the letters carved with the finest penmanship.

"What, what is this?"

"An amulet." The second voice said as a matter a fact, Apollo had to resist rolling his eyes. "Orion was going to give it to Artemis the day you killed him, he wanted to ask her hand."

Now Apollo felt like he was really going to barf. No, he didn't like the idea of his sister having a man in her life that wasn't him or their father but she was a virgin goddess, what did Orion expect to accomplish by asking her to marry him? Immortality as her hunter probably, that's all mortals wanted, not to die, but how long could he have gone without wanting more? Then they would really have had a problem.

"You must wear it," The third sister told him. "Every day when you put it on, be reminded of what torture, pain, and suffering you put Artemis and your family, through."

Apollo closed his hand around the delicate wood pendant. "I will carry this burden."

"Very good!" The second voice giggled, almost happy for his pain. "Now, this is how you change the past-"

"When Athena brings Artemis to the lake Orion originally perished in, she will touch the water and be brought into her memory." The first voice continued. "You must remove Athena, blind her, and bring her far away."

Apollo physically moved away in surprise. "Why?" His stomach churned with the idea of trying to fight the war goddess of his half-sister.

"She must not know what you are doing!" The third voice criticized harshly. "Blindfold her, bind her wrists, bring her far away!"

The first voice chimed back in before the other sisters could keep going about abducting the goddess of wisdom. "You must be holding on to Artemis as she enters her memory, and thus, be transported back in time."

As if she couldn't stand the first sister to have all the glory in giving the plan, the third voice took over. "You will meet Orion before he enters the water; lie, deceive, influence him anyway you can to get him in the woods."

"Then!" The second voice interrupted. "You must sick the scorpion on him, show Artemis the direction where he lay dead, and comfort her. Bring her to Olympus, Athena will take care of her."

"There, the memory will end. Athena will no longer remember you as his killer, but as your sister's loving brother."

"Athena will be back within moments of exiting the memory, you must leave before she arrives!"

"She cannot see you!"

"She must not know you were there!"

Apollo stepped back as the three sisters continued to shout out how important it was he wasn't seen by his half-sister, slowly he managed to get out of their dark temple and make his way back to the lights of Olympus.


	8. Chapter 8

"Where are we going first 'Thena?" Artemis asked the goddess of wisdom as they flew above the clouds, high enough so the mortals couldn't see them, finally on the way to their home.

Athena smiled as she gently corrected their path. "Calydon. I believe remembering your old fierceness and power will be as good a start as any."

"What did I do there?" Artemis frowned. Power? Fierceness? Why did it sound like whatever she did caused people to die?

The older immortal chuckled at the hesitant question but quickly darkened as the topic advanced. "Ancient ways were different," she managed, shaking her head. "Our actions then...were cruel, pompous, and merciless. Evil, violent, and vicious. We change with the times but then, that was the norm for us. There was no compassion for the mortals, beings that were so below us, their lives meant nothing. All of us were guilty of horrendous deeds."

Artemis stared at the golden brown fur of her stags, the ringing of their belled harnesses became a dull, high pitched buzz in the back of her head as flashes of fire, blood, and destruction ran across her vision.

"I-" The young goddess' voice failed her as more images appeared in the light blue of the surrounding sky, dying it red. Athena set the reins into a holster and wrapped her arms around the shocked, crying form of her half sister that was more family than she ever had. Holding onto her now as she replayed the most barbarous times of their past, she was reminded of just how fragile she was.

A child through ancient times, exposed to all of the brutal actions of her relatives. She deserved a carefree life, even if it meant running around in the woods and hunting monsters; none of the war hardened experiences she got sucked into and had to deal with. "Oh Athene..." she exclaimed quietly, hiding in her older sister's chiton. Athena was almost physically taken back by the old, ancient tone her young voice took on.

"How I missed the days you called me that." She whispered, rubbing the arm of her companion with small, soothing circles.

"Why did I stop?" The goddess asked numbly, trying to forget the vivid, gore-ish flashes of memories that had just forced their way into her mind.

Athena sighed, looking forward to the bright sky that seemed too bright and cheery in comparison to the feeling in the silver moon chariot. "War and loss; they altered the innocent, childlike cheer you had, replacing it with a tough exterior and hardened emotions. It was quite sad to witness."

The goddess was quiet for a long time as they soared through the sky, watching the white masses of water vapor as they moved, or as the chariot moved, without really seeing them. "I do not want to remember."

Shocked by the mumbled retort, Athena pulled away from their embrace. "What?"

Artemis sat up, the surprise of her half-sister fuelling her. "I do not want to remember all of this death, the pain and suffering, any of the horrendous things you say we have done. Can you just show me all of the good things? Take out all of the bad so I act like I use to instead of the horrible person I was before I hit my head. Maybe that is why it happened, so I could have another chance."

From the second sentence in her rant, Athena began to shake her head, tears threatening to fall at every word the young immortal said. "Our lives have more torture than happiness and we have to deal with the burden of all of our actions. None of us get away from the past, but those good memories, the good feelings that you want to focus on, help the pain even just a little."

"But-"

Athena shook her head violently. "Don't you understand Artemis? If you don't remember everything you'll never be whole! You'll fade! And then what, I'm left without the one family member I actually care about!" The goddess of wisdom stopped in a huff when she noticed the wide eyes in her traveling companion.

She grabbed the reins to the team and leaned back, her inchor boiling and her mind buzzing with adrenaline. Artemis watched her older sister fume quietly with wide eyes. _I guess we really do have one messed up family. _She thought, slowly sitting back, letting the rest of the ride pass in a tense silence.

"This is Calydon?" Artemis looked at the stone blocks laid out in some kind of order that apparently made sense to the original builders.

Athena smiled fondly at the ancient architecture, running her hand over the nearly petrified stones. "The ruins of the old acropolis, I wouldn't bother with any modern version, it doesn't hold the same significance."

Nodding, Artemis tried to find the same appreciation from the carved out blocks that her sister obviously did. "So how will I remember this specific memory?"

"Well, there is a particular alter over here," Following her, the moon goddess made out one of the few remaining free-standing stones. As she got closer, she realised it was indeed much more interesting than any of the others. "I think will do the trick. Go on."

Artemis stood in front if the basic, rectangular stone altar jutting out of the ground, covered in overgrown vegetation, but carved into the flat surface was a distinct indentation she recognised immediately. "It is a bow..." she muttered more to herself as she ran the tips of her fingers over the familiar mold.

She frowned when nothing happened, for the most part, all she had to do was touch something related to her memory and she would reenter the moment. Athena stepped up next to her, looking like she wanted to voice an idea when the proverbial lightbulb went off in the immortal's head.

Artemis stepped back to avoid hitting the wisdom goddess, pulling the wooden bow resting across her chest like a satchel over her head. Though she knew she wouldn't need to use it, Artemis had felt an overwhelming sense that she needed to bring it and so she had placed it on her back to sit across her torso, completely out of instinct like it belonged there. She gently positioned her prized bow into the carving, the outline of a stag's head that alerted her to the idea fit exactly to the original end where the string originated from.

As the mold was filled, Artemis' hands glowed and her mind was thrown forward at the speed of light, jerking to a stop only a few moments later to much different surrounding.

_The goddess watched from her empty altar while pig bellied royals chatted, laughed, and clinked glasses as they feasted on the riches of their hard working subjects. She stood in the shadows, her arms crossed tightly across her chest in attempt to keep herself from smiting all of the pompous mortals on the spot. _

_"What do you see?" The softly spoken ancient Greek almost startled the immortal, but the trained huntress felt the slight change in the air when her half-sibling appeared. _

_"Self-centred, boisterous, smug, overconfident, arrogant, pretentious-" _

_Athena chuckled as her half-sister fumed. "Now tell me what you really think."_

_"You can be smug, they sacrificed to you. They sacrificed to everyone, even Dionysus!" Artemis scoffed, unnecessarily adjusting her arrows, bow, and hunting satchel out of irritation. _

_Athena smirked down at the young immortal, seeing a great opportunity for entertainment not just for her but Olympus. Artemis could use a good ego petting as well. "What are you going to do about it?"_

_"They will be praying to Hades when I am through with them." The huntress patron muttered the promise, teleporting herself to a clearing in the nearby woodlands. _

_She turned in a small circle until she knew what direction the wind was going, closed her eyes, and waited for the strongest gust. Gently, Artemis pressed her lips together and blew slowly to create a soft, low whistle. "Come to me my beast," the goddess whispered into the wind, blowing another stream of the sound meant to call only her most horrible of monsters. "Come my pet."_

_The immortal's smile turned almost sinister as the ground rumbled worse than any of Poseidon's earthquakes. The reverberations roared louder than her father's thunder, making Artemis gity thinking how the mortals responded to the ominous booms coming from the mountains. _

_Through the forest, a ball of hair trampled the fifty foot trees and raced towards the moon guardian. Smiling at the large animal, she put a hand up as it screeched to a halt barely a foot in front of her, it's large tusks wrapping around her in a comforting hug. "My pretty boy. I have a new task for you: destruction, your favourite." The beast snorted, engulfing its patron in a gust of warm air and a few boogers. _

_Artemis laughed maniacally, petting the matted, tangled mess of fur at the top of its head. "I knew you would like it. I need you to demolish, ravage, annihilate everything in Calydon, for me? They forgot about me, make them pay my friend."_

_The boar whipped its head back and forth in rage at the disgrace shown to his protector, ready to charge into the valley. "Good boy." Artemis scratched the sweet spot between her pet's eyes, right above his snout, gaining a great big lick that encased her hand in thick saliva. "Do not stop for anyone, now go, and happy destruction." _

_Her boar allowed the goddess to step out from between his tusks and barrelled down the hill to the unknowing farms and walled city below. Artemis smiled as she watched it flatten the landscape on it's way down the mountain. She took a moment before going back to her temple, sitting on the top peak to watch as the royals continued to feast. _

_The huntress took out her bow and notched an arrow, pointed at the sky, and let go. With her ammo in the sky, she set her eyes back on the table just as a skinny boy, obviously deprived of the same nutrients being so gluttonously gorged on, came running in. _

_"Your majesty!" He skirted to a stop, pausing only a moment to catch his breath. "My lord, a beast is terrorising the town. It is destroying all the farmland, soon we will have no crops! This monster, it is only something brought on by the gods."_

_Artemis scoffed not just at the outright way the young boy so easily bowed down to the fat king, but how his description of her pet so belittled its presence. _It is only the beginning. _She promised. _

_The king stood quicker than the goddess thought possible for him. "How can this be? Our festival honours the gods, we sacrificed to all of them, they have no reason to be angry!" Before Artemis could kill him on the spot, her arrow wedged itself into the table, still full with food. _

_Shocked royalty stared at the perfect, silver arrow in awe and horror. "The Lady of the Arrows..." Oeneus muttered, turning on his associates. "Did no one sacrifice to the Lady of the Arrows? You have damned us all!"_

_He turned to the boy with wide, crazy eyes. Artemis tilted her chin up as he glanced down from the sky when his gaze fell on her for a brief moment before he was pulled back by the king. Silently cursing herself, Artemis made herself invisible and moved to crouch next to the table. _

_"Gather all the towns people, get everyone and any supplies left inside the city walls." Oeneus started grabbing plates and bowls from the table. "We will sacrifice everything to her, we will appease the goddess and she will call off her beast."_

_Someone lit her fire in the temple while the king and several others in company gathered more food, only leaving things too heavy or large to fit in the cauldron at one time like the whole roasted pig with an apple in its mouth. _

_The sweet scent of their sacrifice soon drifted to the goddess, and was she was oh so tempted to accept it but Artemis steeled her nerves, moving her hand in a swipe motion in front of her torso. In reaction, the fire grew larger than possible and black smoke bellowed out, engulfing all near it. Notching another arrow, Artemis shot threw the pig's apple, staying only long enough to hear "There is no appeasing her, we are all doomed to die.". _

_Artemis scowled at the walled city, the poor farms, and swarms of people that ran away from the path of her beast. He wouldn't hurt any of them, she had specifically instructed him no maiming, but he will do all he can to scare the living daylights out of everyone. _

_"Well, someone certainly made you mad." The thick Acadian accent rang out in a chuckle from behind the goddess and for the first time in the last three days, Artemis smiled at her best huntress, indomitable just like herself and driven. "I suppose this is why you requested my assistance so swiftly."_

_"Atlanta," The immortal hugged her huntress, placing a hand on either shoulder. "We should meet under less strenuous circumstances in the future."_

_The young princess nodded with a smile, curious to what her paton had gotten herself into. "Yes, and what of the current one? Who has angered you this time?"_

_Artemis pretended to be offended, scoffing. "I am no drama queen, I leave that to Aphrodite." The two laughed as thunder rolled in the sky above them. "The royalty in this town, Calydon. They prey on their poor, feast on more food in one day than most will see in their entire lifetime! It is despicable-". _

_"What did he do?" Atlanta good naturally rolled her eyes at the rambling of her goddess. _

_Letting the air out from her interrupted sentence, sending her huntress a shy smile before answering. "He forgot to sacrifice to me during the festival." _

_"Oh boy," Atlanta chuckled gently, shaking her head. "What do you need me to do?"_

_Artemis directed her attention to the walls where, despite their distance, both of their heightened senses could see dozens of lavishly dressed men watching the boar destroy farm homes. "The Calydonians will assemble a force to kill my beast, you need to join them."_

_"How do you expect me to-"_

_Raising a hand to halt the compliant, Artemis' smile turned devious as she looked out at the city. "Oeneus will place his son Meleager as lead on the hunt. He is a man, you know how to make them bend to your will. Make him fall for you, hard, and get in that hunt."_

_Atlanta was silent as she too watched her goddess' animal destroy buildings, farmland, and chase people into the walls of the city. "Why must I go?" she asked stiffly. _

_"Only a huntress can injure my boar, once you hit it, anyone will be able to land a blow. While I would love to watch them run around throwing pebbles at him, he has a limited attention span. I can only convince him to do so much before he becomes bored." Artemis paused and gazed over the scene in front of them. "I want to show the pompous engrade what happens when he scorns a goddess, and I want him to never forget."_

_"What about these poor farmers, the ones so wrongfully punished? By sicking your boar on the countryside, you destroy their homes, kill the crops that are the only source they have of feeding their families or making money. You say you wish to punish the king and his court but whom are you really hurting my lady?"_

_"I instructed him not to maim anyone-" Artemis stopped, huffed, and turned back to the city. "When he sees his people suffering, if he has any heart at all, he will suffer with them. If not, well, Hades will have a good time with him in Tartarus. Now go."_

_Atlanta nodded once. "Yes m'lady."_

_"Oh, and Atlanta," Artemis called out to her huntress one last time. "Walk down the main road, he will listen to you, tell him to avoid you but do not let them see you speak. They will let you in the gates, but you must catch their attention first."_

_"Yes, m'lady. I will do all I can." _

_Artemis sat crosslegged on the table as Oeneus stalked back and forth in front of it, obvlious to her presence. Meleager sat on his smaller throne, resting his cheek on his fist and staring at a map._

_The same boy who saw her at the festival ran in, both royals perked up at the new addition to the room. "What is the news?" The king asked, his voice sounded old, like the whole situation was weighing on him. _Good,_ she thought._

_"The boar has destroyed most of the wheat farms, running farmers managed to save the contents of a few silos but resources and food are running very low..." He glanced behind the king at the table, his mouth watering slightly at all the gourmet substances surrounding the goddess. Artemis noticed how his gaze rested on her longer than it should have._

_Oeneus ran a hand over his head, pulling his lopsided crown off before setting it back. "Send all our messengers, assemble the best hunters, trackers, fighters. We will rid ourselves of this curse ourselves."_

_The boy didn't move, fiddling with the flailed ends of his ragged shirt. "Your highness, there is something else..."_

_Artemis shifted, could he really see her? If he told the king she was sitting, watching... "What, what is it boy?"_

_"There...there is a woman outside the gates-"_

_"Well let her in!" Oeneus waved his hand in some sort of gesture of permission and turned to pace again._

_"That is the thing my lord," The boy gulped. "She is walking right down main road, the beast-it-it is completely avoiding her."_

_At this, Meleager sat up straight. "Who is she?"_

_The boy shook his head. "No woman I have ever seen, your highness."_

_The two royals shared a look and both quickly made their way out of the throne room. Artemis sat for a moment, but just as she was going to teleport out to the walls, the boy spoke. He was still facing the door where the prince and king ran out. "I understand why you are angry, but why did you destroy my home, my friend's home, everyone's homes? We built you a great temple. I sacrifice to you every night, lady Artemis._

_"I thought of you as a kind goddess since the animals like you, helpful to mothers bringing new siblings, I like to think you blessed me when I prayed to you for help in a shooting contest, but destroying not just my home, but the city...I thought you were better than that. I hope this woman is one your huntresses you sent to help, I really hope so."_

_He walked out, and with him, he took a piece of the goddess' soul. _


	9. Chapter 9

_Artemis watched Atlanta confidently strut down the dirt road leading up the gate, her hunter's vision allowed her to see the almost minute movement of the girl's mouth; her words soothing and instructing the beast away from her. She sat on the ledge of the front wall, dozens of young men clad in armour rushed around behind her, the hundreds of feet height bothering her less than the fact that she had beaten the king there. Even with the boy's speech slowing her down, he and the prince should have arrived long before her._

_"Where is she?" Meleagler's voice rang as he stepped over the last step and onto the pathway, soldiers immediately moved out of the way. The prince walked with his chest puffed out, arms swinging as if his giant limbs weren't deadly looking enough. Without waiting for a reply, he rushed past the goddess to see over the edge._

_Artemis smirked as the slack-jaw wonder engulfed the royal, her plan falling perfectly into place as he demanded the gates cracked open as she approached the large stone slab. "Bring her to the temple at once."_

_"Father she is the goddess' own huntress, sent to aide us, she must be allowed to accompany the hunt or this beast will never be slain, so says the Lady of the Arrows." Meleager insisted, following his pacing father around the stone tiled agora in front of her temple. Artemis sat on the third step leading into her sacrificial altar, watching._

_"The beast purposely ignored her," Oeneus rubbed his chin, running his hand through the short beard as he thought about what he had seen. "She could as easily be here to slow us down, keep you from ever killing this monster. How can we trust her."_

_"I suppose that depends on how desperate you are, your highness. How long you can watch your people suffer knowing I am the answer." Atlanta stood at the top of the steps, her head tilted and arms crossed, tempting the king. "If the Lady sends me or not, no man will ever succeed against her boar, but you know that already, right your highness?"_

_Artemis raised her chin in praise, the movement caught by the side vision of her huntress. Oeneus stopped his incentive circle walking to gulp air like a fish in attempt to come up with some response. _

"_Your highness," The boy walked in the courtyard, taking a respectful glance at the lounging immortal. "The hunters have arrived." _

_Finally having an excuse to leave, the king quickly ducked into his castle to greet his guests. Meleagler sighed and followed his father after giving Atlanta a small bow. The boy stayed. "You did send her," He spoke happily to the immortal, smiling at the huntress. "I knew you were a gracious goddess, I know you only send this monster to teach a lesson; to whom I do not know, or need to know, but now I know why. Thank you m'lady."_

_Artemis watched the boy jog away, ignoring the very confused Acadian next to her. "He can see you." She nodded. "How?"_

"_I believe he is Apollon's son, his children are blessed with many skills, including the ability to see me."_

"_What if he is just a mortal?"_

"_Then he prays a lot, and more people could be like him."_

"_Then they could all see you, and what would you do then?" Atlanta rolled her eyes, knowing becoming invisible and stalking mortals was a favorite hobby of her patron. _

"_I never said I_ wanted_ them to be like him."_

"_I will not have it!"_

"_She will slow us down."_

"_A woman stays at home, not in the hunt."_

"_She was trained by Artemis!" Meleager exclaimed, hushing all protests of the men sitting at the table either in respect or surprise. They had come to fight the boar but as soon as he mentioned Atlanta, they all broke out in hysterics, yelling gripes at the same time, each trying to talk louder than the man next to him. "The goddess sends her as an obvious sign, we will not defeat this beast without her."_

"_If she comes, her blood is on your hands." An Argonaut stood, nodding to the prince once and excused himself. The other men nodded and muttered their agreement, slowly peeling away, leaving the royal leader alone._

"_You knew it would be opposed." The huntress said, finally moving from her place on the back wall to face him. She was silent, almost blending into the shadows created by her corner; none of the men noticed her presence the entire debate. _

_Meleager rubbed his eyes tiredly despite it being early afternoon, not even startled by her sudden appearance. "Yes but quabbling does tire me so, and unnecessary while this monster rampages through my city when we could be out there, fighting it."_

_Atlanta glanced over at her patron, sitting fifteen feet in the air atop the king's throne, not caring one bit about sitting on the thin, gold beam. "The boar follows her orders, she is angry at your father and will not stop him until she is pleased."_

"_Then we must put on the show she desires before Calydon ceases to exist." _

_Atlanta sat in her tent, the fire circulating warmth through the small space before exiting through the top with the smoke. She placed the last arrow in row with its twins, lined up on the floor of her makeshift home in three perfect rows of twelve. The amount she made sitting there for the day, the second day she was not allowed to leave camp. To protect it, they say, two must always stay to guard the camp._

_She had the unfortunate duty of 'guarding' camp with one of the hunter's sons, a skinny boy that obviously spent more time in a library than the woods. Artemis would not be surprised if the boy's city worshiped the wisdom and war goddess and this son found more intrigue in the wisdom instead of war. For his 'crime' he was forever sentenced to protect camp, like her._

"_Fine work." Artemis' praise fell short, the huntress' annoyance levels too high for anything but physical violence to appeal to her._

"_I am rotting here," She snapped, not at all worried about her brash tone with the immortal. "I agreed to your request under the idea I would be _doing _something other than replenishing my arrow supply and listening to the babbles of a studied Athenian."_

"_So you understand how I feel when I go to Olympus." The moon goddess muttered. "Meleager is coming to speak to you."_

_Before she could respond, Artemis disappeared and the drawstring of her doors was pulled open. On the other side, of course, was the prince like her goddess said. "Your highness." Her sarcastic greeting made her guest grimace. _

"_Lady Atlanta, I-were you just-I swear I heard another voice, and a shadow-"_

"_Did you need something, because I am _very _busy with my arrows, I simply do not have the time to replenish my supply sitting in camp all day."_

"_Well yes," He cleared his throat, stepping in her tent and latching the cloth doors to keep anymore heat from escaping. "Three men have been injured in our hunt today, with very little success these last days, the men have agreed you can be taken along tomorrow."_

"_How gracious of them." The Acadian muttered, stone faced. She felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up at her goddess. The immortal huntress smiled at her and disappeared, leaving the semi-mortal to deal with a confused royal. _

"_She is here? The goddess?" Meleager shot up, hitting the top of the tent in his haste. "You were speaking with the goddess earlier, you must have been."_

_Seeing her opportunity to enact a bit of revenge, Atlanta smirked. "She told me why you were coming."_

_Meleagler scrambled to sit opposite her, the fire crackling between them made the huntress look ominous as she grinned wickedly._

_The morning came faster than normal and Atlanta knew her patron rushed her brother to bring the sun up. The Acadian emerged from her tent dressed in her silver hunting uniform, twin quivers filled to the brim strapped to her back, her bow draped over chest, and of course, matching hunting knives that look like they could skin a man hanging from her hips._

_As the huntress passed several men that had also awakened with the rise of the sun, she heard their murmurs and felt their stares but she could not blame them. After thinking she was nothing but a house sitter for three days, to see her in her assassin clothes was a huge shock. _

_She opened the flaps to their leader's tent and entered. "The boar sleeps now," She told Meleager as his snoring faltered and he began to wake up. "We have the best chance at a surprise attack. Get up and rouse the men."_

"_Where...where are you going?" _

"_I will return by the time you are done." She assured; he blinked and she was gone._

_Atlanta stalked into the woods, not caring but knowing where she was going. "Yes?" The voice she was looking for jumped out from high in a tree. Glancing up, the huntress saw her patron sitting precariously on a high branch, she imagined it gave her a great view of her nearby camp._

"_We are setting out for the boar, go to him." _

_Artemis smirked at the direct, almost demanding, way her huntress told her the mortal's plan of action. Without another word, she disappeared, leaving Atlanta to hike her way back to camp._

_Atlanta ran her fingertips over the cracked branch. "What are you doing, the footprints are going this way, you do not have to check every tree for a tiny crack." She ignored the complaining hunter, continuing on her path away from them. The man scoffed and smacked something._

"_What is she doing?"_

"_She's going the wrong way."_

"_Does she even know how to track?"_

_Fed up with their incessant whining, the Acadian huntress spun on her heel. "I do, but perhaps you do not. Any novice tracker could tell those tracks are not fresh, several days old in fact, but let me guess, you have been following them for days. These 'little cracks' as you call them, are current, the boar walked through here this morning. Now, I am going to follow this trail, but you are free to go along that one."_

_Her outburst shocked the party, many of whom had never been proven wrong before, no less than by a female. "Then where are the footprints, master tracker, huh?"_

_Atlanta rolled her eyes, that would be the only thing any of them would come up with to rebuttal. "The ground goes towards the river," She pointed at the mush where their prized footprints were squished into the ground. "It is full of water and soft, it retains the print for days afterward. This direction heads to the mountains and is made of rock, not as feasible to make a print."_

"_So you must pay extra attention to the details." Meleager escaped from the small crowd to analyze the broken twig, his eyes squinted and hand rubbing the stubble on his chin. "I agree, to the north we will go to hunt this beast. Come on men." _

_One by one they followed the prince who walked confidently behind the huntress as she tried to distract herself from them by actually tracking._

_The sun was high when Atlanta brought the group to the lip of a spring that sat at the entrance to a valley, mountain sides rose up around them for a lifetime. "Finally, water." One of the men started forward but pulled violently to the ground before he could break through the coverage._

"_Are you daft? There, the boar." Everyone looked to where the huntress was pointing, astounded to see the giant boar sprawled out in the meadow, lazily nibbling an indistinguishable mass. Atlanta smirked when it was clear they had not seen it until she pointed it out._

"_Alright men, this is what we came for. We will charge the beast with surprise-"_

"_You all _are_ daft." Atlanta shook her head and drew an arrow. "First we get him in the valley, back him up against the wall so he cannot escape. Half go around to block the exit should he try to run-"_

_Meleager must have been ticked from when she called him daft because he interrupted her to deliver the rest of the plan. "Then we can attack from both sides and kill the beast!" Several of the men quietly cheered, at least the boar was finally right in front of them._

_Atlanta held her hand up. "I will move him, stay here unless you are going to the other side of the valley." She made sure to glare lightly at Meleager to keep his men in check before swinging into the closest tree. The huntress moved soundlessly across branches, easily landing on the smallest limbs and gone again before they could crack._

_The men sat stunned, crouched behind the bushes as they watched the huntress jump from tree to tree until she was behind the beast. "She is…" They all agreed._

_They saw a thin sliver launched from the foliage before the tail of an arrow was visible from a crack in the rocks above the boar's head. The seemingly silent noise woke the beast, it barely had time to react before another joined the first, hardly an inch from the other. Together, the arrows startled the boar to it's feet. Atlanta launched another, closer to the beast itself so he would move. _

_As she hoped, the boar started moving towards the valley entrance. To speed up his progress, Atlanta shot more of the arrows she had spent hours of the last two days carving, just a little residual anger behind each one._

_When her patron's pet was inside the valley, she jumped from her tree and into the clearing. Very shortly after seeing her, the men burst from their bushes. Meleager was the first to come near her, the grin he was wearing wavered and she knew what she just did, what she showed she could do, scared him._

"_Men, let us finally kill the beast that has destroyed Calydon!" The men cheered in response, Atlanta rolled her eyes but waited for them to finish, knowing full well hushing them only makes them more sexist towards her._

_She followed them at a light jog as the roared towards the valley entrance. The boar turned at the noise and tried to run through but miraculously, the lot she had told to wait on the other side where there, screaming just as loud as the bunch on her side._

_The boar skidded to a stop, stuck between a rock and two hordes of screaming men. Atlanta saw Artemis standing next to the rock cliff, watching each side with disgust and disapproval. "ATTACK!" The ear busting cry brought the huntress back to the action._

_Meleager and about half the men threw large spears with thick, sharp, dangerous looking tips. Midway through the air, the metal from each weapon fell to the ground, the remaining poles continued their paths, only to bounce off the boar._

_Both sides threw almost every kind of weapon they had, but each one had the point ripped off and rendered nothing more but poking the beast that had gone from frightened to angry in a few minutes._

_Atlanta stood back and watched the men scream, launching sharp sticks at the massive hairy beast with her arms crossed. "What do you see?" His troubled voice didn't surprise her._

_Without looking at him she tried to keep her 'I told you so' grin under control. "Your men will not hurt the boar."_

_Meleager took a deep breath, she was going to make him beg. "How?"_

_She glanced at him over her shoulder. He was staring solidly at the small battle, his eyes darting around quickly to take the whole thing in. Atlanta relaxed her shoulders, removing her bow and notching an arrow. "Prepare your last weapons."_

_Her arrow pointed at the ground, the trained huntress weaves her way through the agitated men. Many stopped yelling in surprise when she passed them, stopping their failed attacks to watch her as she made her way to the front line, crouched close to the ground like her own kind of animal on the hunt._

_Breaking past the last men, Atlanta entered the no mans land in front of the attacking line. She immediately dropped to her knee, taking a flawless shooter's stance. Pulling back her arrow, she aimed it at the raging animal. _

_Atlanta waited as it thrashed around, trying to focus on both sides of attackers at the same time. The Acadian was patient, watching and predicting the boar's movements knowing full well every man behind her was waiting _eagerly_ to see her attempt._

_She saw the moment a split second before it happened, releasing her delicately carved arrow and watched with satisfaction as it wedged into the boar's sweet spot; just above its nose._

_The enraged animal let loose a mighty roar at the first feeling of pain. Quick to react, man on the other side of the valley threw a spear, the weapon wedging into the hide of the boar. _

_Atlanta shot another arrow to the boar's forehead to satisfy herself before backing away, watching as Meleager thrust a sword through the boar's throat that stopped it for good. Atlanta followed numbly behind the screaming men who dragged the huge monster across the forest, adrenaline still coursing through their veins._

_Artemis met her huntress as they watches the mortals celebrate. Meleager stood on a stage with the king, telling a very exaggerated version of events, when one of the hunters suddenly came stumbling on stage carrying a massive pelt._

_"My Lord and Prince, for landing the killing blow to end Calydon's plague, I humbly offer the pelt of your enemy!" The man hiccuped after his small speech, grinning up at the laughing royal. _

_Meleager took the robe like coat of fur and hoisted it above his head earning loud cheers from the drunken hunters and woman. "This is a gift suitable to the gods, but I cannot accept it. The rightful owner shall be the one of us that landed the most important blow to this beast; the first. For this I give the pelt of Cayldon's boar to the Huntress Atlanta."_

_Artemis grinned as two men stood. "You dare give the trophy to a woman? If anyone deserves this it's us!" Two men stood and approached the prince, each arguing what they did to earn the pelt and why Atlanta certainly should not._

_Nodding to the huntress, the immortal watched as she placed a hand on the large man, looking up at him with large scared eyes. Predictably Meleager's chest inflated with the idea of saving his newest obsession. Barring his long sword, the same one that had killed the boar, and with one wide arc, silenced the bickering brothers._

_A sharp cry rang out from an older woman as she huddled over the still bodies of her three siblings. Brandishing a knife, she brought the same fate to her son._

_Artemis appeared to the king that night, utterly devastated at the loss of his prized son. "Your lesson has been taught," She told him. "You will be wise to not forget it."_


	10. Chapter 10

Artemis was quiet as Athena flew her chariot through the baby blue sky. Looking out on it, the goddess couldn't help but wonder how something so beautiful could survive in a world where people like her where killing dozens of innocent people simply because they irritated her; like mosquitoes that accidentally landed on her and the only solution she could find was to swat it for doing nothing but what it existed to.

"Show me good memories Athena," The younger immortal begged, gaining a sad glance from her half sister.

The goddess of wisdom kept her eyes on the skyline to keep her emotions in check. The depressing part about her request was there were only a few pleasing moments in the past that could satisfy her young sister's desire to remember the good instead of the bad. There was just so many dreadful times in her life.

"I know it is hard Artemis, I am doing my best. Your life was almost a mystery to me." She decided to stop talking past that, nothing else she could say would make her feel better and honestly, the goddess was having a hard time recalling any time her sister was happy.

If her depressed mood was bad before, the clear day turned black as the pair flew into a raging storm. There was no lightning or thunder but from the dark clouds balls of ice assaulted the immortals. Athena shook a mass of them from her hair and commanded the golden animals pulling the chariot to land.

Artemis felt no pain from the bombardment of hail but when she held her hand out to catch a dozen of them, their cool texture leaked through her skin and into her veins. As the cool feeling rushed through her body, Artemis' vision melted.

_A woman clothed in all white chiton with multi-colored blue and green feathers as accents stood, glaring at the moon goddess. A bolt of electricity struck by her feet but didn't faze her or lessen the anger in the immortal's eyes._

"_You try to use the power of my father to scare me away?" Artemis scoffed at her step-mother, pulling her bow and loading an arrow with smooth grace, pointing it evenly at her chest. "Fight me with your own power!"_

_Hera laughed at the small goddess. "Young immortal, you speak with more confidence and arrogance than you can fit in your head. You have much to learn before you fight me."_

"_You not arming yourself in the face of battle means little to me." The huntress easily let her first arrow go, watching with satisfaction as it soared straight at her enemy's chest._

_With more speed than she's ever seen the woman move, Hera reached up to the sky and grabbed a handful of the dark, stormy clouds, making it into an armor to protect herself from the deadly arrow._

_The silver projectile wedged into the wispy material, right above her heart, _If she had one._ Artemis thought bitterly as she notched another of her arrows. "Give up you bastard child, you cannot harm me any more than you deserve to be in my presence." _

_Red rage flashed across the young goddess' eyes as she fired her second arrow, not waiting to see where it hit, letting herself fall into a rhythm of load-shoot-repeat until her right hand met empty space in her quiver. _

_After a moment of silence fell the space between the immortals, Artemis forced herself to gaze upon her work. She had to keep herself from bursting out in frustration when she saw the arrows were stuck in the dark cloud, but the veil remained untorn and the wounds gave no blood. Then Hera picked up a missile of the air, circling it into a frozen mass of hail and struck Artemis with the jagged mass. _

_The sharp stony lump broke the curve of her bow as it sent her flying across their battle field. Artemis opened her tightly closed eyes to see another barrage of frozen projectiles coming at her._

When she opened her eyes the next time, instead of sharp pieces of ice, she found Athena's caring grey eyes. "What did you see this time?" She asked gently, offering a gauntlet of amber liquid.

Artemis took the cup and drank from it greedily as the strength that had left her during her memory returned. "I was fighting Hera," She took a breath, opening her palm to reveal a single unmelted pellet of hail. "She protected herself from my arrows and hit me with ice."

Athena nodded at the simple explanation, knowing what her half sibling was talking about. "Dionysus' war, the gods choose sides like in the Trojan war and fought each other."

"Trojan?"

She sighed as yet another large chunk of her sister's memory failed to make an appearance. "The biggest rift between our family, you fought Hera then as well." Artemis faltered before she could ask the outcome, deciding it was better if she just remembered on her own.

"We should go there next." The huntress insisted, looking around to attempt in figuring out where they were to no anvil. All she saw were masses of people walking by quickly, all but ignoring her silver chariot and golden animals.

Before Athena could respond, a glob of cold, white material landed on the young goddess' sandal clad foot. Numbly, Artemis looked down at the chilly substance that coated her left foot. "Oh dear! I'm so sorry!" A woman's voice chimed against her confusion. "Here let me clean your sandal dear."

In a flash Artemis found herself short one shoe and holding a baby boy. Looking to Athena for help did her no good, the wisdom goddess was leaning heavily against her chariot trying to keep her laughter in at the whole sight. The goddess found herself being drawn into the infant tucked into her arm.

His toothless grin shined up at her and Artemis found it quite amazing that this baby, despite not knowing her, was so happy to see her. Slowly she smiled back, lifting her free arm to tickle his stomach, earning the bubbliest of giggles she has ever heard; not that she would remember but at this point she was use to that and went along with the moment.

Artemis poked his small nose with her fingertip, earning a similar laugh and two tiny hands came up to wrap around her wrist. Though skinny in the first place, the two miniature human hands just barely managed to complete the circuit around her wrist.

The goddess didn't hear the boy's mother come back until she was standing right next to her, talking right into her ear with her loud voice. "Alright dear, nice and clean and sticky free! I'm so sorry about that, I knew I should have held his ice cream…Aw, Damien do you like your new friend?"

Artemis looked up at the woman and saw her with the soft expression of a mother as she looked at her and the baby cuddled in the crook of her elbow. "He's never that good with strangers, you must have the charm." The woman smiled at her, a hand resting on her upper bicep. The huntress could care less about what she was saying so long as she could continue to hold her baby.

"Thank you," The immortal found her voice, tickling Damien's chin with the limited mobility of her hand while he held it.

"Do you have a little one in your life?" It was an innocent question clearly since the immortal appeared barely older than ten; it was an inquiry that could have appeared in any normal conversation, but as her brain processed it, her heart sank. Artemis suddenly felt like she was going to throw up, her stomach was doing flips and butterflies were having a rave all at the same time.

Trying to keep down the nectar she drank, Artemis answered as civilly as she could manage. "No, I guess I just have the charm." Numbly she handed over the small mortal to it's mother and walked back to her sister.

"Artemis?" Her voice was faint but the huntress couldn't decide if it was another symptom of her sudden illness or the on-coming of a new/old memory. "Artemis, are you alright…?" As Athena's voice trailed away, it became clear to the young goddess this feeling was a memory.

"_NO. Artemis, leave me be." The woman in front of the archeress tried to push her away from her very pregnant stomach. She was quite literally glowing with a mysterious light being emitted from under her skin, but her godly face was pinched with pain._

"_Aurora, you must allow me to help," She had to dodge a beam of light as the titaness next to her lashed out._

"_No! These children are not mine, I will not have-!" Tired of hearing her cries, the goddess used her will over birth to bring the children forth. Two babies had just began to breathe when a lioness forced Artemis away._

_The young immortal sprang from the ground only to watch Aurora take hold of the first child in her maw. While she was distracted, Artemis jumped over her to snatch the remaining boy. With one last look at the heartless mother, she held the boy tight against her body with her arm and set out through the forest._

_Artemis glanced down at the infant, barely minutes old, as it looked eagerly at it's surroundings as the two raced through the forest; safer dozens of feet above the ground as the huntress jumped from tree to tree than on the ground._

Dionysus. _She thought, heading towards his mountains. _You will be safe with Dionysus, Iakkhos._ As she moved along the forest, Artemis held the baby in her arm. The weight was new, but not uncomfortable, a burden she didn't mind carrying, even for a little bit._

The huntress opened her eyes to find herself looking up at a vast, flawless blue sky. She sat slowly only to find all her previous ailments were no longer present. "Where are we going?" Artemis climbed into the front bench of her chariot next to her sister, the vast height they flew at not affecting her strangely peppy mood brought on by one of the few enjoyable memories she's reexperienced.

"Well you wanted to know what Troy was didn't you?" Athena was almost hesitant to tell her because the last memory about fighting with their stepmother went _so _well.

Artemis nodded despite her sister's obvious hesitation, ready to get her memories back, no matter how painful the experience.

* * *

><p><strong>Ok so no, I'm not dead but I love this story so in no way am I letting it die!<strong>

**I decided to make this less about PJO, like big time though there are a few references because how can I write about Greek myths and _not _reference it? Now it's majorly focusing on Artemis and the myths surrounding her because well she's awesome. I was always thinking about the sibling relationship between Athena and Apollo because it's hard for me to think that they all just ignored each other.**

**Ok, rant over, hope you enjoyed and if you have a myth that you really want me to write about review!**

**Yours,**

**Arty**


	11. Chapter 11

Artemis walked around the serene looking meadow while her mood was anything but like her surroundings; she couldn't place it but for some reason the goddess found herself in an itchingly, irritated state. "-Artemis?"

Athena's voice caught the moon goddess off guard and she visibly flinched. "Huh? Oh, yes?"

"Are you alright? You zoned out and did not answer my question." The older goddess smiled lightly because it was a thing Arty did all the time when she was younger.

Artemis shook her head, baffled by the feeling that overcame her when they landed. There was just something that bugged her about the clearing but mostly about the forest just beyond it. "Do you mind if I explore?" Her question floated in the air as she didn't really pay attention to the answer from her half sister.

The wisdom goddess laughed to herself and although she knew her response would fall on deaf ears, she answered while attempting to keep her laughter to herself as the huntress shed her footwear and padded towards the tree line. "I will be in town if you need me." She called out and chuckled when all she received in acknowledgement was a flick of the wrist.

Artemis heard Athena but the draw of the forest was hard to overcome enough to give a legitimate answer. Being barefoot reduced some of the stress she had accumulated through the last month of her blackout, and walking in the forest for the first time, she felt its life pulse against her soles. Artemis quickly found herself in the middle of the forest but knew exactly where she was, felt every animal surrounding her, and it was so oddly comforting to feel each species' heartbeat in time with hers.

A whole new set of senses flooded the goddess' brain. As she spun in a circle, the goddess felt the bush rustle in the gentle forest breeze before it happened. Off to her right, a small pack of birds flew out of the shrub and as they flew towards the sky, Artemis counted seven of them just before her vision fogged into a growingly familiar memory haze.

_The mortal wasn't as sneaky as his giant ego thought he was, Artemis sensed his presence as soon as he entered her forest. Instead of outright forcing him away from her huntresses, Artemis felt the aura of her uncle Poseidon and decided not to kill him; she was not in the mood for another war, so the goddess watched him move through the wilderness in the back of her mind._

_Her own arrogance came back to bite her when she heard a cry from her playing nymphs._

_Artemis saw the group running with the incredible speed of wind nymphs only to have their pursuer hot on their trail anyway. For a moment the goddess was mystified at the demigod hunter's remarkable speed but recovered quickly, using her power to aid the nymphs._

_The seven of them transformed into beautiful white doves. _Help them Father, _the moon goddess prayed to Zeus. Before her eyes her old companions flew into the night sky until they became part of the heavens. _

_Artemis rounded on the hunter that dared go after her maidens. She opened her mouth but the man standing in the clearing was unlike any man the goddess had ever seen, her anger was subdued when he caught sight of her._

_The demigod must have spoken to his father for he bowed his head, looking away from her in respect unlike the men she had encountered in the past. "I appreciate your chastity." She told him and slowly he raised his head to meet her eyes. His caught her by surprise, the deepest shade of green blue inherited from the God of the Sea. "What is thy name, mortal?"_

_"Orion, m'lady."_

The vision ended abruptly, the last thing she saw from the memory was the handsome, smiling face of the demigod man. His bright green-blue eyes, perfectly crooked grin, and symmetrical features burned a hole behind Artemis' eyelids; forcing the image to reappear every time she blinked. Blinking of course was simply a humanesque reflex that she didn't need to do, like eating or sleeping, but something she had come accustomed to.

Artemis couldn't shake the feeling like there was more to that memory that she needed to see and relive but after spending close to five hours wandering around the forest unable to recreate any memories related to the man, she decided now wasn't the time.

Athena picked up on her half sister's anxious, agitated aurora as soon as she shuffled into the small book nook the wisdom goddess had settled into to wait for her. "Remember anything?" She asked, closing the worn hardcover book she had re-read for the hundredth time over the centuries and leaned forward, sensing something wrong already.

All she got as a response was a tired groan from the immortal resting on the loveseat next to her. "Oh Athena," Artemis moaned, blocking the glow of the lamp in the corner with her hands like keeping the light out of her eyes would help the confusing thoughts rattling around inside her head. "My life makes no sense in pieces, all I wish is to have the whole story."

Athena gave her half sister's covered face a small smile of reassurance. "We just need the key memory that will trigger the rest to return, an 'ah-ha' moment if you will."

Standing with her nonexistent energy, Artemis grabbed the older immortal's hand to drag her out to her silver chariot. "On to the next place, where are we going now?"

"How about Troy?"

Athena guided the lead stag to land in a weathered clearing and as Artemis looked over the space, she was confused because while it was large enough to build a large city in, however it was missing the key landmark: a city. "Troy was burned Arty and it's been two centuries, it is long gone."

"Then why are we here, how can I remember what happened if there is nothing to see or touch?" Artemis walked around the meadow, running her fingers along the tops of the wild flower clusters and weeds. Her knee-length, silver hunting chiton blew behind her as the breeze chased through the large space, swirling pollen and sweet smells all around the goddess of the woods.

As she turned, taking in the vast area filled with the essence of spring, Artemis felt the familiar feeling of not just what she was currently experiencing but also the undertones of an invisible heaviness she recognised. This time, as the picture of the meadow faded before her eyes, Artemis felt less like she was fainting and more as if the memory was an interactive flash back.

_Artemis stood at the cliff overlooking the restless sea, it's normally calm clear green water churned to a wild froth as the waves crashed against the normally pristine white sand, now stained in red; blood of not just mortals but also demigods. _

_The conversation she was a part of on Olympus still rang very clearly in her mind. _

_Zeus looked around the throne room, making eye contact with each of the eleven god and goddesses sitting around him, knowing that he could not stop them if he killed them. With a heavy sigh he spoke, 'All you go down, wherever you may go with or against the Trojans and give help to either side, as your own pleasure directs you.' As soon as he had said it, it awoke the incessant battle, and the gods went down to enter the fighting; Ares went over to the Trojans with Artemis and Aphrodite._

_Her brother on the other hand, had declined to battle Poseidon, joining the goddess overlooking the domain of their uncle. Artemis scowled at her younger sibling, 'You run from him, brother, and so you give Poseidon the victory with no resistance. He can brag where nothing has happened. You are a fool, why do you wear that bow, which is your best weapon, if will not use it. If I hear you in the halls of our father boasting ever again, as you did before insistently, that you can match your strength in combat against anyone, I will strike you like he should have.'_

_As she spoke, Apollon said nothing to her but Hera appeared behind the twins, her face showed she was clearly full of anger as she scolded the lady of hunt. 'Do you have the daring, you shameless hussy, to stand up and face me? It will be hard for you to match your strength with mine even if you wear a bow. Since my foolish husband has made you a lion among women, and given you leave to kill any at your pleasure, it is better for you to hunt down the ravening beasts in the mountains and deer of the wilds than try to fight in strength with your superiors. If you want learn what fighting is, come on. You will find out how much stronger I am when you try to match strength against me.'_

_The Queen of the Gods spoke quickly and caught both of the young goddess' arms at the wrists in her left hand then with her own bow, smiling, boxed her ears as Artemis tried to twist away; the arrows scattered across the ground. _

_Using the only advantage she had, Artemis used her smaller size to get under and free, fleeing in tears as a pigeon in flight to make her way into some rock-hollow and a cave. Leto picked up her archery on the ground, holding the curved bow and the arrows that had fallen. When she had taken up the bow she went back to her daughter but found that she had already left._

_Artemis could not sit in a cave and cry over a loss to her stepmother, using the opportunity and made her way to the bronze-founded house on Olympus. She ran to the man inside and her father caught her against him, laughing softly and questioned her, 'Who now of the Heavenly Ones, dear child, has done such things to you, rashly, as if you were caught doing something wicked?'_

_Looking up at her father, the young face of his treasured little girl mared with puffy eyes and salty tears, answered him: 'It was your wife, Hera, who hit me father, since hatred and fighting have fastened upon the immortals because of the Trojans.' The young immortal watched with delight as his calm features erupt in anger._

Artemis shook her head as the image of her angered father faded from her vision, this flashback had seemed so real, like she was actually at the cliff side watching the fighting while salty mist attacked her features as she scolded her brother. She felt the embarrassment as she flew away from the battle, knew the exhaustion of flapping wings against the same spring breeze that wafted around her chiton now.

The most authentic emotion the maiden goddess could not shake was that of deceit when she had turned her father against his wife; knowing she was the source of another's punishment triggered an overwhelming movie of her using hate to fuel punishment and or killings of mortal and demigods alike.

Scenes of peeking men being ripped apart by hunting dogs, turned to deer and shot by their own arrows, spells cast, and torments set rushed through her mind; the new experiences became real as they stuck in her brain where they had been torn from in the first place.


	12. Chapter 12

Artemis was quiet, which was the reason that started to worry Athena in the first place. Sure she hadn't heard much from her half sister in the last century, but whenever they were together the huntress was always talking about something; even if she was mad at her, Artemis never wasted a moment of time with silence.

Every few moments Athena found herself glancing at the younger immortal who was leaning against the side of the chariot, resting her chin on her fist and watching the clouds sail by as they rocketed through the upper atmosphere. "Arty?" She called, breaking the easy silence between them.

The goddess of the moon lifted her head, coming out of her thoughts when she heard her name. "Yes, Athena? Are we landing?"

"Soon, yes, but you are very quiet and you are never quiet. Is something on your mind?"

Artemis took a moment to think about her sister's question. Ever since they left the forest where she remembered meeting the demigod Orion, she'd been thinking about it nonstop. She continued to play the memory over and over in her head and she could not get his damned smile to go away. However, every time she got to the very end when he told her his name, the moment that the scene cut off dramatically, Artemis got the sinking feeling that if she told Athena she remembered him it wouldn't roll over well.

"I am just thinking about the memory from Troy," she deflected, "After I told father about Hera attacking me, he got very angry, and I felt the overwhelming feeling of causing other's punishments. I saw flashes of myself turning men into animals and killing them simply because they crossed me..." Artemis trailed off because she _had_ genuinely been contemplating the disturbing emotion between her daydreams, however less importantly.

Athena nodded, she saw this coming. The one thing about her younger sister was the strength and no nonsense kind of personality she had developed, especially towards men. When they met up in the past Artemis always had at least two more stories about mortals, demigods, gods, and spirits alike that tried but failed hard and paid heavily for their troubles. Most of the time it involved them being turned into some animal and killed by their own men or dogs, sometimes by herself if they really pressed her buttons.

It was admirable how dedicated Artemis was to maintaining her maidenhood plus protecting her huntresses so they can be happy and free. Athena really admired her for it, and she wasn't alone because more goddess than she could think of shared the respect; even Aphrodite admitted she could appreciate her dedication and went so far as to compare her to Cupid which was a huge step for the _love _goddess.

Of course, the wisdom goddess knew there was part of Artemis that hated killing. Unlike Athena, Artemis was half mortal and felt all the emotions that weighed them down. "It was a large part of your past Artemis, and while it may seem harsh or mean, you always had justification; many goddesses and nature spirits that admire you."

The huntress nodded, not at all interested in the reassurance, though she would have to ask about the admirement part later. "Where are we going anyway?"

Athena smiled and turned back to the reigns, happy that she could brighten up her sister's mood. "We are meeting up with Apollo in Thebes, the two of you worked together there in the past."

Her attention peaked, the young immortal sat forward as they to her explanation, her little brother stood in the clearing, hands on his hips and smiling ear to ear. "Hey sises! How's the memory joltin' going?"

Artemis relaxed into his side hug with a grin of her own; Athena mused in her mind how truly identical the two of them were. It was also one of the rare times the wisdom goddess ever saw the immature son god taking something seriously. As Apollo was pointing out the old farm house at the edge of their clearing, she also noticed that he seemed younger in appearance, almost as if he was trying to match his sister.

"Apollo, bring her to Mount Siplyon." She interrupted his chatter, dramatically changing the boy's mood from light and excited to a dark silence.

"Yeah, ok. Come on Arty." Artemis was surprised by the sudden change in her brother but went along with it, allowing him to take her hand and transport them to a large waterfall along the side of a mountain. "Well, here we are." He told her, looking up at the rock face.

Artemis looked around the humble stream, trees, and wild grasses that thrived at the base of this mountain before joining her brother to gaze at the rocks. "Is...is that a face?"

Before she heard a response, her vision faded into a flashback.

"_Children, thank you for coming to me." Artemis and Apollo sat on the pillows across their mother, oddly curious to why their mother would call them to her home along the streets of Olympus._

"_Yes mother? Is there something wrong?" Apollo asked, taking her hand and afraid for the worst. Artemis rolled her eyes at her brother's mama's boy actions but leaned forward with the same curiosity._

_Leto patted her youngest twin with a small smile. "Oh no my boy, nothing wrong with me. Though there is with Niobe of Thebes. She bragged of her children at my celebration, mocked my single set of children, you two, in light of her many more. Her arrogance has disgraced my name."_

_Apollo stood followed very closely by his sister. "We will teach her to boast her superiority to you, mother."_

_The titaness gave her children a grateful smile, running her hand down her daughter's forearm and briefly giving her small hand a squeeze. "Thank you my dears, I knew I could count on the two of you to avenge my name."_

_The twins disappeared from Olympus and returned to the Greek mainland, entering Thebes. "I will handle the maidens," Artemis informed her brother, readying her arrows with a quick acting poison from her hunting bag. "You can manage the young men, yes?"_

_The experienced huntress finished in record speed, handing her twin the remaining liquid. Apollo nodded his agreement, setting to dipping his own ammo in the solution. They split, Apollo going down to the royal's private training arena and Artemis to the girls' rooms in the castle._

_As the goddess moved deeper through the large building, she was able to hear giggles of young maidens and for a moment, she felt remorse for the lives she could do well by her side in her hunt. The goddess reared on a room with the loudest source of the voices and dropped in to listen._

"_Then mother said, 'Clearly I am a more fertile woman, I have bore seven of each child while Leto only one of the pair'." One of the older girls giggled loudly, breaking any ill feeling the goddess of the wild had._

_The immortal quickly notched her first arrow and zoned in from her hiding place behind a pillar; down on knee with her bow even with her eyes, she had a clear shot to all seven girls lounging around the room._

_Artemis silently took in a breath, and as she prepared to let it out, her first arrow flew. The calm, steadying breath blew gently against her knuckles as she reloaded and released in rapid succession; striking down each of the innocent girls before the last had a chance to scream in alarm._

_For a moment, the goddess walked into the open room, taking in the now lifeless bodies of maidens ranging from five to no more than thirteen. She shook her head, the senseless tragedy so easily avoided should a mortal woman had kept her mouth shut._

_Apollo finished the male side of the children almost as easily as his older twin, however, experienced a bit more regret than his sister. The reaction time of the last son was much better and as the sun god turned on him with his poisoned arrow, he fell to his knees and began a beg for life, only to have it cut off by the projectile hitting him anyway. _

_The encounter affected the young god until he found his sister inside the palace. He took in the dead bodies of young girls quickly before his attention turned to the mortal woman, balling her eyes out at the sight._

_Artemis glanced at her brother as he entered the room and turned back to the weeping mortal. 'What did you suggest we do to her?' She asked him telepathically through their connection, not wanting to draw attention to them before they were ready, not that much could tear the woman's focus away from her dead children._

'_I was thinking a statue,' He responded, tilting his head to better picture the idea._

_The huntress shook her head. 'Way over done if you ask me. What about a mountain?' At the end of the sentence she snuck a look up at her brother, a wicked grin spreading on her face as the new suggestion started to grow on her._

_Apollo met her gaze and matched her expression to the T. Easily, the combination of their powers transported the broken woman to a barren mountain, the sudden change was still not enough to snap the woman out of her crying state._

_Together, the twins combined the woman with the stone._

Artemis blinked out of the memory with little backlash. Apollo looked down at her with a similar expressed that he had all those centuries ago. "Hey, did you remember? That was easier than I thought, I told Athena I should have come with you!"

The huntress laughed at her brother's enthusiasm but it quickly died. "We did that, together?" She asked, as if what she just experienced wasn't proof enough.

Apollo's face darkened as he ran through the memory again. "Yeah, you know we were different back then, and we didn't blink an eye about killing mortals in spite but…" He paused to look up at the mountain face, the water flowed out of two tunnels that looked suspiciously like eyes to meet at the bottom and form the river. "I never felt good about killing those boys. You know one of them begged me on his knees not to kill him, so he could continue his family line but I had already let the arrow go." He stopped talking, shoving his hands into the pockets of his pants.

Artemis could feel his guilt not just because of their connection, but because she felt it too; it was how she felt after she killed the innocent girls. She quite literally shot them in the back when they had no chance to defend themselves, let alone plead for their lives with her.

She wrapped her hand around his, even though his was bigger due to the different ages they appeared as, hers fit into his perfectly with a familiar warmth she enjoyed; the memory felt so much like the moment they were having now, she barely noticed the transition.

_A tiny ball of life slid into the demigoddess's arms, his face contorted as he cried glowed with a golden halo. Even now, skin slick from birth and wrinkly, the golden fuzz at the top of his head was the softest she had ever felt._

_His hands, tightened into tiny little baby fists, started to open as he started to realize he was really alright. His eyes opened to look at the young girl holding him, revealing the bright blue that rivaled the clear open sky._

_Artemis grinned despite herself as she wrapped the newborn in a bundle of cloth, sitting beside their exhausted mother. She smoothed back the golden curls as an arm wrapped around her shoulders. Leto reached out to tuck her second child in the nook of her free arm._

"_Hello, Apollon." She breathed, still trying to get her bearings. A tear ran down her face at the sight of the infant, smiling wide with nothing but happiness with the two children she had brought into the world. It was worth any kind of spite from Hera._

_An equally as joyous smile broke out on the young girl upon seeing her mother's. Apollon let out a high pitched squeal, using the smallest hands to reach out to his mother. Artemis didn't mind sitting in mom's arms, playing with her baby brother's miniature hands._

_Quickly afterwards, the toll of bearing two children in two days made itself apparent on Leto who sighed with clear exhaustion. "Watch over us for now Artemis." She closed her eyes and easily drifted off to sleep._

_Apollon started to squirm as soon as the attention was off of him and when he saw Artemis, he stretched out two chubby arms, begging to be loved. The demigod made a face, trying and failing to hide a smile. "Oh hush, mother is sleeping, you will wake her and both of us will be sorry."_

_She reached out and rubbed slobber off his face only to have him lean into her, the softness of his cheek surrounding her in the warmth of his little being. Apollon gazed up at her with his jewel like eyes in absolute adoration, so full of trust and love that Artemis herself fell in love with him._

_Leto was still sleeping as the storm rolled over their little floating island. Lightning made an appearance, followed by the rumble of thunder that shook the earth. Using the powers she inherently began to understand, she created a roof of protection over them to avoid the rain._

_Apollon looked at the sky with apprehension, growth already obvious in the few hours of his birth as he wobbled unstably to sit in her lap. "It is only daddy," She assured him, looking mistrustfully at the sky herself. "When he gets upset he throws thunderbolts, he is always busy so we will see him tomorrow. He lives in a big palace in the clouds where all the gods and creatures live together."_

_The unhappy glare that had been on his features faded as her description made him just a little bit happier. He rested his little head against her chest to avoid looking at the sky and despite the gloomy weather or scary booms in the distance, her heart melted._

_Leto awoke when the storm passed and both siblings were excited for their mother's attention. "Mother!" Artemis giggled, racing her baby brother as he toddled towards the tree. She glanced down at him, adjusting her speed to stay just behind him until collapsing next to their mother, resting on her leg as Apollon fell into her waiting arms._

"_Only half a day and you are walking so well! At this rate you may become bigger than your big sister." Leto winked at her daughter, knowing she wouldn't want him think like that._

_Artemis frowned. "I am your big sister," She told him, wagging her finger in front of her face, attracting his full attention. "I am your big big sister who knew you when you were a tiny, insignificant little thing, so do not you forget it." For emphasis she bared her teeth like a she wolf only making him giggle so hard he was all but shrieking with laughter._

_The young demigoddess turned around in mock anger. Apollon raced around to press his tiny hands against her cheeks, forcing her mouth up into a smile. She laughed, tackling him to the soft grass but quickly rolled so he was on top of her to avoid crushing him. Artemis realized that her whole existence would now revolve heavily around him, her baby brother._

* * *

><p><strong>Slight credit to Sonata Apppassionata for the inspiration for this last flashback.<strong>


	13. Chapter 13

Artemis walked through the forest with her brother, listening as he retold his experiences over the last millennium. A few of them sounded vaguely familiar, a fuzzy image seemed to appear as he spoke until one that finally involved her. "Oh, there was another time we went to help mother." He told her.

The huntress paused in their advancement through the woods. "Really, what was this about?"

Apollo rubbed his head, running his hand through his hair as he thought. "I am just trying to think how I can get you to remember...I know, she was cornered…" He trailed off, going through the forest with a purpose, looking for whatever he was speaking of. "Here! She was down here and we were up there."

Artemis looked to where he pointed, her brother had brought them to an area where the stream passed by an outcove of the cliff wall that formed a 'v' shape, perfect for trapping something, or someone. Her brother referred to the cliff just to the right of the trap. In a moment they were standing on it, looking down to where they just stood.

The goddess looked to her twin. "Did you do that?" She asked, a bit on the bitter side when he didn't give her warning to the teleportation.

Apollo shook his head with a smile. "No, you did. You must have done it subconsciously." He smirked at the surprised look and gestured down. "Look, see if you can summon the memory."

Despite her momentary astonishment, Artemis stood in her place to gaze down at the stream shore. Minutes passed when nothing happened. "Apollon, this is not working."

The god of the sun humphed in agitation. "Oh, try pulling your bow and arrows out, aim down." Apprehensive, the goddess was slow to do as her brother suggested but nevertheless, she did and as soon as she had her arrow head pointed down towards the cliff face, her vision shifted.

_A woman ran frantically, falling short when she came to the cliff side. She turned, her back to the rocky end, coming face to face with a man that almost towered over the cliff itself. "Finally, I can have you for myself Leto."_

"_No, Tityos__. __Do not do this, you will regret it." Her threat fell on deaf ears as the giant advanced on her._

"_Your threat means nothing to me Leto, just because you bedded my father does not mean you control me. The tables are quite turned my dear."_

_The titaness pressed herself further into the rock face. She had run out of options, until what her attacker said rung a bell. "Artemis! Apollo!" _

_"You can call for your bastard children all you like, it will make no difference."_

_On Olympus, the twin gods stood together in the throne room, arguing with the council. "Father, you are not listening to me-" The sun god stopped short when the chilling call came to his ears. Apollo looked to his sister to confirm the stomach dropping news. _

_Artemis gave a short nod, horror just as evident on her face as he felt in his heart. In a moment the twin immortals were gone leaving the remaining gods confused._

_The twins met again at the drop off of a cliff, immediately seeing their giant half brother and a woman's scream a moment later. They looked at each other in alarm, that voice was undoubtedly their mother._

_Within a moment both of them had their bows drawn, two arrows loaded each. Without speaking to the other, the immortals released their projectiles simultaneously. They followed their first shots with dozens, each wedging itself in the back of the attacker; the celestial bronze tips doing the damage necessary to kill him._

_The two of them appeared in the clearing, rushing over to the woman they had just saved. "Mother!" Apollo wrapped his arms around her smaller form, holding her like she was the one they just shot._

_Artemis rested her hand on his shoulder to calm him down. It was effective enough to halt the bear hug from squeezing the life out of their mother. "My children, thank you so for coming to my rescue, I knew I could count on you two working together to save me. My precious twins."_

Artemis gasped as she was jarred from the memory, her hand recalling from the sharp surface of the rocks. Her hand was littered in small punctures, liquid gold slowly rose to the surface and through the new holes.

The goddess turned at the laughter of her brother. "Nice going Arty, here, let me see it." He took her hand without waiting for a response, a gold light covered his hand and moved to hers, immediately healing the small cuts and scrapes.

The moon patron looked at her hand in surprise. "Have you always been able to do that?" She asked, turning the appendage over as if she expected to find strings attached.

Apollo chuckled and shrugged, starting the walk back to their fellow immortal. "I guess it's just something I learned and mastered over the millennia."

Artemis scoffed silently to herself, _just something you learned over the millennia_.

When they returned to the moon chariot, Athena sat in the front seat, a book sitting in her lap. "Why are you always reading whenever I come to find you?" The young goddess asked, leaning up against her chariot to look at her half sister.

The wisdom goddess laughed, closing her book. "Lots of the knowledge and wisdom of the world comes from the written words."

Artemis leaned against her fist. "I thought you knew everything 'Thena."

Apollo snickered from the head stag. "Yeah 'Thena."

Athena narrowed her eyes at the sun god, watching with satisfaction as the sleeve of his chiton caught on fire and laughing as he panicked to put it out. Apollo pouted at his half sister but didn't retort again.

Turning her attention to the female twin, Athena smiled at her. "I know all that mankind does, true, but the mind is like the muscles on your body; if you do not use them or exercise them, the shrivel up and become useless." The goddess was happy to see the younger immortal nodded with understanding and slight awe. "However, this read is purely for pleasure like all fiction, you gave it to me many years ago."

Artemis cocked her head. "What is it about?" She reached forward to take the book from her sister's outstretched hand, turning the cover less, titleless book until the upper left corner caught her attention. "Is this inchor?" She ran her fingers over the golden stain, her vision already fading out as she finished the question.

_Athena sat in her temple, resting comfortably in a plush lined wicker chair while reading, when she felt the air around her condense in the familiar way. She closed her book as the goddess waited for whichever immortal was teleporting into her library._

_Artemis appeared, her cheeks wet from tears. "Athene," She gasped in a rough cough. Her half sister straightened in her chair, much more alert than she had been a moment before._

"_Artemis, what is wrong?" Athena searched her sister's face, desperately trying to determine why she had been crying; Artemis never cried._

_The moon goddess choked, gasping for air when the sensation to cry overwhelmed her. "He-he's dead, Athena. Orion i-is dead." She let out a strangled gulp and collapsed into her lap._

_Athena smoothed the sobbing girl's hair, hushing her violent, shaking cries. She leaned her cheek against the small head wedged into her neck, trying to ignore the pooling tears that started to moisten her shoulder. "Artemis," She called to her half-sister after the intensity had subsided a bit. "Do you think that maybe, his death is in both of your best interests?"_

_Sitting up still sniffling, Artemis frowned. "Why...why would his death be a good thing? I loved him Athena, and now he is gone."_

_The wisdom goddess reached up to brush away the moist area under the huntress' eyes. "You are a maiden Artemis, loving someone is dangerous for you."_

_Artemis stood, walking to the vanity where several books, papers, and writing utensils had been scattered. "Orion...was not like that Athena, he knew of my vow and respected it. Sex was not why he stayed with me."_

_Frustrated with her sister, Athena scoffed. "I cannot talk with you about this when you appear to me as a child." She scolded her sister, not believing the innocent nine year old face that had just spoke about intimacy so freely. _

_Without saying anything, Artemis blinked to a more advanced age. "When we first started traveling together I told him, I could not offer him physical love, and he understood. He understood Athena! He loved me anyway."_

_Athena rubbed her temples, leaning forward on her knees. "Artemis, a man needs a woman to take care of him. He is mortal, and he will age whether you want to accept it or not. What would you do when he becomes too old and fragile to go along on hunts; the one thing that brought you two together? __He might be able to handle being at camp for a bit but what about when he gets restless? Every man needs a woman to care for him when he becomes too old to work or weak to move, what could you do when he is shriveled and immobile? With as much as you and your huntresses move around there is no way-"_

_"Stop! Just stop it!"__ Artemis gripped her head as her half sister continued to pull apart the only feelings she's ever had towards a man that didn't involve an arrow to the heart. Her anger peaked, as she pushed her hands behind her, barely noticing the clattering of pencils and papers dislodged from the vanity top. __"You do not understand, no one here understands!"_

_The painful 'oomph!' that followed made the young immortal freeze, spinning to face her sister. Her stomach dropped when she saw the gash on the goddess' temple, golden blood leaking down her face through her fingers. "I am sorry, Athene, I am so sorry." Athena watched as the form of the huntress disappeared in a shimmer. She groaned, putting more pressure on the wound to her temple, looking down at the book that had caused it. She fought back the sting of tears when she saw the gift her sister had given her, covered in her inchor._

Artemis jerked back, dropping the hardcover book to the silk cushions of her chariot. "I hurt you." She choked, swallowing a lump of guilt and shame from the memory.

Athena smiled gently at the obvious struggle the recollection had caused her sister. "Yes, but I would rather take a book to the head than go fifteen hundred years without seeing you again. After that you failed to attend any meetings for a millennia and a half. I tried to visit but you always knew I was there and avoided me, I could only keep tabs on you from Olympus through my maps."

"Then one day you showed up for the summer solstice meeting like nothing had happened," Apollo added, fixing nonexistent problems with the closest stag's harness, refusing to look up at his twin. "No one had the courage to question you about it, so no one has known what made you come back and with you loosing your memory, we may never know."

Artemis lowered her gaze, she didn't remember what they were talking about but with the tone her little brother had when he explained her actions, the spite and betrayal was so obvious she felt responsible anyway. "When I get my memory back, you will be the first to know." She told him, knowing it would do little to help the way he felt or appease any of his ill feelings about being abandoned, but it was all she could do.

Numbly, she nodded when Athena said something about a camp site. _I will never allow you to feel this way again, Apollon. _She thought, climbing into the moon chariot. _You will never loose me again, brother, I swear upon the River Styx. _The huntress didn't quite understand what the last part of her thoughts meant, the River Styx just popped in her head when she thought about her mental promise, and she went along with it, it just felt right.


End file.
